A Leap of Faith
by TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne
Summary: A Teen Titans/Star Wars crossover! Some Jedi wind up on the Titans doorstep. Old story, republishing at Edgar H. Sutter's request. Complete
1. Chapter 1

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

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Author's prologue

This story starts out heavily on the Star Wars side of the aisle, which it needs to since I need to describe how our favorite teen heroes come into contact with the masters of the Force. Also, all but two of the Jedi are original characters. Sorry, but Anakin and Obi Wan won't be making any appearances, at least not in the Titans's universe.

The only existing Star Wars character I use are Ahsoka Tano, Anakin's Padawan learner on the Clone Wars animated movie and TV series, and Yoda makes a later appearance

Now that I got that out of the way, this is a story that focuses on the Titans and their universe.

And for all you BB fans, in this story Garfield is the Man!

This story was first published in the Teen Titans section. I'm moving it to the Star Wars crossover section to expose it to another audience.

Now on to the show!

Chapter 1 – A warrior without a purpose

Jarvik Katarra gazed upon the night sky from his apartment balcony on Obroa Skai. He had been stationed at Obroa Skai since the start of the Clone War, his mission to protect the galactic library from sabotage by the separatists.

He had 5 garrisons of clone troopers at his beckoning, which in his opinion was overkill. He knew that the separatists had no intention of attacking the library, which was neutral and open to all who wished to access it. In his opinion, guarding it actually placed the library, and the entire world of Obroa Skai in danger as its neutrality was made suspect by the presence of Republic forces. The presence of 4 Jedi didn't help either: one Master, one (newly minted) Knight and two older Padawans helped put a great big bulls-eye on Obroa Skai. Jarvik Katarra should know, since he was the Jedi Master in charge of protecting the library world.

What was the council thinking of when they sent him on this pointless and seemingly never ending mission? He should have been out there engaging the Separatists, especially when there were neophytes out there fighting while he was stuck babysitting a library. He was well known as one of the most powerful Jedi warriors, and his skills rivaled those of Masters Yoda and Windu. But he knew the real reason for his exile. He had been too close and too loyal to his old Master Qui Gon Jinn, not to mention Qui Gon's Master, Count Dooku (at least until Dooku left the Jedi order). They didn't trust him, especially after they learned that he had been secretly studying ancient Sith Holocrons with Dooku. Now that Dooku was a Sith Lord, Master Katarra knew that he had lost all credibility with the Council, and perhaps with the entire Jedi Order, hence his non-mission.

And speaking of neophytes, just last month the council had sent the youngest Jedi Knight in the order's history to keep an eye on him, with two troubled Padawans along for the ride. The Padawans had been trouble makers at the Jedi Temple since they reached puberty, and under normal circumstances they would have been expelled from the order. But these were not ordinary times, with the first galactic civil war in thousands of years threatening to tear the galaxy apart, and to make matters worse the Sith were lurking once again the shadows.

So it came as no surprise that Jedi would try to salvage every Padawan they could. The number of Jedi that had been lost in the war was staggering. So he wasn't surprised that he was now the Temple's new garbage man. So be it. He would show them what he could do with "rejects". He would make sure that Nuvuti Seik and Sleedo Osma would be great Jedi Knights someday, even if they were undisciplined pranksters. He would take care of that.

What really bothered him was the choice of his babysitter: Ahsoka Tano. Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker's old Padawan, the youngest Jedi to ever to pass the trials and be conferred the rank of Knight, at the tender age of 16. While he sat rotting on Obroa Skai she had been involved in some of the most important missions in the War and was a well known hero, her face plastered all over the Holo-Net. They even had a nickname for her: The Teen Titan.

Jarvik knew that there was no point in crying over spilt milk. It was obvious that the war was winding down. Just last week Darth Tyranus died at Skywalker's hand's (perhaps the rumor that he was the Chosen One might be true). Still, how could Dooku ever have been seduced by the Dark Side? He had to have been perhaps the noblest Jedi ever. It made no sense. And he just heard that Obi Wan Kenobi, along with Commander Cody and his highly glorified 501st clone rangers had General Grievous cornered in one of the many sink pits that frequented the surface of Utapau. The Force be willing the war would soon end and he would have something to do more befitting someone of his abilities.

What concerned him was at that moment was the strange trembling he felt in the force. From studying the Sith Holocron many years ago he recognized the way the Sith shrouded their mark on the force. He knew that something was afoot, something evil and deadly. He tried to gaze into the future, but everything was dark and cloudy. The Sith were up to something.

At that moment his communicator chimed. It was Ahsoka and he could feel her concern and confusion through the force. "Master, you need to come down to the guard station. There is something you have to see". Her voice betrayed that she was very worried as well.

"I'll be right there Ahsoka" he replied.

'_Oh well, the Sith are on the move. Something tells me that today won't be boring'_ he thought as he ran off to meet his second in command.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Upon entering the guard station the first thing Jarvik noticed is that there had just been a battle there. Dozens of clone troopers were lying dead on the floor. Ahsoka and the two Padawans were almost in a state of shock, their sabers still ignited.

"What happened to the clones?!" Jarvik screamed as he entered. Slowly Ahsoka snapped back to reality. "They attacked us with no warning, and almost succeeded in killing us". She paused. "But that's not why I called you here. The Jedi Temple has been attacked'. She paused again, with tears welling up in her eyes. "Everyone present was killed, younglings, civilian employees, even the few Jedi." she sobbed.

"Who did this? How did this happen?" Jarvik couldn't believe what he was hearing. Ahsoka briefly regained her composure before replying.

"It was Anakin. He has been turned to the dark side," she said. Jarvik could sense Ahsoka's confusion and disbelief, and the evidence of her inner tumult was clear as she struggled to explain, "He is now a Sith Lord. He calls himself.. _Darth Vader_. He led an army of clone troopers into the temple and.. and.. and he slaughtered _everyone._"

As the news sank in Jarvik approached the communication console to see if there was any other news to be gathered. He tried to contact other Jedi, but no one answered. He reached out to the force and could only sense a few dozen Jedi throughout the entire galaxy. He realized that the others had probably been killed by their own troops. Then he found the distress signal from Temple.

"Ahsoka, make preparations to leave Obroa Skai".

"What about our mission?" she exclaimed.

"Our presence here only endangers this world. The Sith will no doubt come after us once they realize that the clones have failed to eliminate us." He turned to the two Padawans, who still looked stunned. "Nuvuti, Sleedo, your lives are about to become much more interesting". They stared blankly at him, not knowing what to do. Jarvik groaned inwardly, _These damn kids need to be told how to do everything. _He set his jaw and growled, "Nuvuti, keep a watch for any incoming traffic, especially for Republic Cruisers, and Sleedo, round up as many Astromechs as you can and get them onto the corvette. Ahsoka, come with me to the corvette, we need to prepare for launch and leave ASAP!" He was referring to the modified Corellian corvette, the Jedi Arrow, assigned to them, which to the untrained eye looked like an ordinary corvette (say like Bail Organa's) but was modified with neutroium hull plating, enhanced sublight and hyperdrive systems and an impressive weapons and deflector shielding upgrade that made it a deadly war vessel in its own right. Nevertheless it would be no match for a fleet of Republic heavy cruisers, and he had no doubt that such a fleet was already on its way to Obroa Skai. Oh, and he had no crew to man the massive corvette. He could only hope that Sleedo would be able to find enough Astromechs to run the ship, otherwise it would be a very short trip.

Jarvik and Ahsoka boarded the ship and found that there were a few clone troopers guarding it. They were easily dispatched. Much to their relief they discovered that the ship was fueled, stocked up and ready for space flight. Sleedo arrived with 100 Astromechs, all whirring and beeping while they followed him. Jarvik thought about asking where he had found so many droids on such short notice, but decided to let it go for now. Instead he reached for his communicator with the intent of calling Nuvuti. Turns out she called him at that very instant.

"Master, an entire fleet has just dropped out of hyperspace. They should be in orbit in 20 minutes. Oh, and they have 5 of the new Mark IV cruisers". '_We can't outrun Mark IVs'_ The Jedi Master thought to himself, _We are truly frakked_. "Nuvuti, get your Twi'lek keister over here now unless you want to stay behind and give the arriving force a tour of the library".

"I'm already on my way Master". She arrived in less than a minute.

The four Jedi entered the bridge and Jarvik barked "Ahsoka, you drive; hopefully you learned a few tricks from Skywalker, we're going to need them. Sleedo, you take starboard defenses, Nuvuti you take port and I will take aft. Ahsoka, get us out of here now!"

Ahsoka was a step ahead of him, having already initiated the prelaunch sequence. As she pulled back on the yoke the massive corvette became airborne and then went into a steep climb to exit the atmosphere. At this point the invading fleet was close enough to see the corvette exit the atmosphere and break orbit. As Jarvik had hoped the fleet focused its attention on them, ignoring the defenseless world of Obroa Skai. And as unfortunately expected the Mark IV cruisers were gaining on them. There was no hope of escape. Not even hyperspace would provide refuge from the chasing pack. They would be able to track them and even overtake them in hyperspace"

"Ahsoka, how long until they are in weapons range?" After a brief pause she muttered "Two minutes". Jarvik knew that they would be blasted out of the sky. The Sith were not interested in taking Jedi prisoners. At this point there was nothing left but to take a leap of faith.

"Ahsoka, plot a hyperspace course into the Ruushuu Quasar."

"WHAAAT!? Do you want us to get killed? Why not fight back? At least we might take some of them down with us"

"Ahsoka, you have to trust me on this one. I'll explain more later on, but I learned during a propulsion conference two months ago (what else was I supposed to do to alleviate the boredom?) that if you jump into a Quasar while in hyperspace that a wormhole will open. We will be able to escape and they will think we died."

"Ok" Ahsoka replied while entering the coordinates in the Nav Computer. "But I have a bad feeling about this". The Mark IVs had caught up with the Jedi Arrow and had launched a barrage of Proton torpedoes. Just as Ahsoka was about to launch into hyperspace one of the torpedoes struck the Jedi Arrow. The corvette's upgrading shields kept the torpedo's antimatter safely away from the hull, but were unable to dissipate all the antimatter before the jump into hyperspace. As the Jedi Arrow entered the Quasar moments later they saw the expected wormhole open. What happened next they did not expect. The antimatter on the shields was affecting the wormhole which became more than a mere wormhole. There was a blast of energy around them and they all lost consciousness.

Ahsoka was the first to regain consciousness. The bridge was dark, except for the emergency light system. Also she thought that the bridge looked odd, the colors seemed unnatural. Jarvik and the Padawans were starting to wake.

"Status?" Jarvik inquired.

"All systems are offline. Only emergency systems are in place" Ahsoka replied.

Attempting to force himself into wakefulness, Jarvik ordered, "We need to get them back online. We're blind and defenseless. Where are the astromechs?". At that moment the lights came back on.

"They're already making repairs Master," replied Sleedo. "Propulsion should be back online in a moment."

"Good. I hate drifting. How long have we been out?"

Nuvuti piped up. "Only a few minutes Master. The Chronometer did not malfunction." She paused. "Master, why does everything look so strange, things almost look surreal.."

"I know what you mean, let's get the Arrow ready for duty. First order of business is to find out where we came out of the wormhole. Then ….". Jarvik was interrupted by the sound of an explosion on the hull. "Now what?" he moaned as went to one of the viewing ports on the bridge. He definitely did not expect to find what he saw. "It appears that we are in high orbit around a blue planet. And we are in the middle of some sort of battle…" Another explosion interrupted him. "Are deflectors holding?"

Nuvuti replied "No deflectors. Whatever they are shooting us with, its bouncing right off the neutronium hull".

"Thank the Force for small favors, now let's this ship back online. And nobody say another word about how things look strange until then." Jarvik ordered, wondering what had actually happened to them.


	2. Chapter 2

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

On a little blue planet called Earth

This was turning out to be an awful day for the Titans. But it didn't start out that way. There was a great deal going on in Titans Tower, and if that morning was any indication, it was going to be another wonderful day in Jump City.

They still called themselves the "Teen Titans" since Garfield and Raven were still 19 years old. Dick had gotten rid of his Robin costume once Batman took on a new sidekick and given him the title of Robin, which was fine with Dick Grayson. Starfire thought he looked even more dashing as Nightwing. They had wed over a year ago. Cyborg had been able to upgrade his tech thanks to some generous help from Tony Stark. He could now fly and no longer had to worry about batteries as Stark had supplied Cyborg with one of his miniature Arc Reactors.

But the biggest news in the tower these days was Raven's and Garfield's impending wedding. It was hard to say how this came about, but the other 3 Titans, as well as the extended Titan family was convinced that it had to do with Garfield's sudden jump into maturity. Physically he hadn't grown all that much and was now barely taller than Raven. Looking back, the other Titans would say that they saw the first signs over two years ago, not long after Beast Boy was told by the revived Terra to forget about her. He was heartbroken for a second time. Raven was the only one who approached him at the time. Some think that she was moved by memories of when Beast Boy consoled her after her disastrous romance with Malchior, but she denied that was the case. Beast Boy was a little less annoying and Raven became less sarcastic. But the pattern was there, Garfield was her favorite. After tough battles the others noticed that she would always heal his wounds first. Then she played video games with him (especially Guitar Hero, at which she was unbeatable), but curiously not with Cyborg nor Robin/Nightwing.

The team was relieved that the pair seldom argued anymore, and thanked heaven for small favors, and either ignored or just failed to notice the other signs: they would go out for walks, coffee, lunch, dinner, movies, theatre, you name it. But they never made any big deal about their outings. Not once was the word "date" ever used. Everyone thought they were just becoming best friends.

That was until one day Raven and Garfield suggest they all go out for a nice dinner, at a very posh (and vegetarian friendly) Italian café that was the talk of the town. Since they offered to pay for the meal no one objected.

They agreed to meet in the garage and ride in Cyborg's latest incarnation of the T-Car. They met at the agreed time. What caught their attention was that Raven was wearing her white cape and leotard, which she had not been seen in since Trigon's defeat years ago. She also was grinning, which they found very, incredibly –no, EXTREMELY odd. Beast boy was wearing his usual garb but had a look of mirth on his face that had them wondering what was going on. Finally Raven broke the silence "C'mon. I'm starving. Let's get going!"

They all had a wonderful time at the restaurant. Raven even laughed at Garfield's jokes (which were actually funny) and nothing exploded. At this point Nightwing couldn't stand it anymore."OK you two, what's going on? Is this some sort of prank? Raven, you never laugh at Garfield's joke. I mean, you haven't rolled your eyes even once this evening. What gives?"

Raven and Garfield became quiet for a moment, and then looked at each other in a way that made Nightwing think to himself _You have GOT to be kidding me, no freaking way. _They turned to their friends and said in unison "We're engaged!" as Raven produced her hand sporting a dazzling ring. Needless to say there was much more celebrating the rest of that evening. Eventually Nightwing was able to stop saying "No way!"

Returning to the present Starfire, Bumblebee, Jynx and the other lady Titans were busy helping Raven with the final planning for the wedding. Starfire was especially ecstatic. It was going to be a wonderful day. And it was, until **they** arrived.

4 – We do not come in peace.

It was about 11 AM when every alarm in the Tower started blaring. The titans dropped everything and congregated around Nightwing, who was already seated at the ops console. He had the worst frown on his face they had ever seen. "Richard, what is it?" Starfire asked her husband.

He replied, deadpan "The Gordanians have returned". Everyone was silent, for they knew why they were back. They came for their lost prize: Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran.

Finally, Cyborg broke the silence "How many ships?" Nightwing hesitated before answering "about 500". At this point Garfield freaked out "500 ships! What are we going to do? Star, can you call Tamaran for help?"

"It would take too long for them to arrive" Nightwing replied, and added "They aren't all heavy cruisers like the ship we encountered last time, most of them are smaller ships".

"But Earth has no planetary defense systems, which means we have to fight them, but with what, the T-Ship? We are so outnumbered that it's not funny" Beast Boy wailed.

Raven chimed in "Gar's right, we need a miracle".

The funny thing about miracles is that they happen when you least expect them. As the Titans stared at the Gordanian fleet on their giant view screen the miracle happened. A wormhole opened in space and a large spaceship emerged. It appeared dead and was drifting in space. Raven uttered her trademark, deadpan "Whoa!" while her fiancé belted out his ubiquitous "Dude!" Nightwing asked his wife "Have you ever seen a ship like that one?" She gazed intently before simply saying "No, and I do not believe that it is Gordanian". Then at that moment, so as to remove all doubt, several of the smaller Gordanian scout ships approached the listing vessel and opened fire on it. The Titans were stunned that the Gordanians would do something as cowardly as to attack a disabled ship. They were even more amazed to see the Gordanians' salvos bounce off the listing ship as if they were ping pong balls.

"Cy!" Garfield cried out, "They can't even scratch them, what gives?" Cyborg's eyes were getting huge as his fingers danced across his computer keyboard. "Ya'll aren't going to believe this, but that ship's hull is made of pure neutronium". Only Starfire comprehended the significance of Cyborg's discovery. "That cannot be possible; there isn't that much neutronium in the whole galaxy." She replied. "I hope they are friendly".

"So do I" added Raven.

Meanwhile, the lack of success by the scout ships had attracted the attention of the Gordanian flagship, which had altered course and was heading towards the still drifting alien ship. As it approached Cyborg detected an energy surge. "They're charging their particle weapon" he said. "I don't know if it will destroy that ship or not. It depends on how thick their armor is, and our sensors can't tell." Cyborg and the others held their collective breaths as the weapon discharged. The alien ship rocked, but other than a nasty scorch mark where the weapon had struck it appeared to be undamaged.

"Something's happening with that ship" Cyborg warned. "I'm seeing energy surges. I think their reactor is coming back online. Look, it's stopped drifting" It became apparent to the Titans that the ship was waking up.

"They have deflector shields up, my sensors can't see past them. And man, those are some deflector shields. I wonder what the Gordanians will do now?"

At this point the entire Gordanian fleet had surrounded the alien ship, including the 50 heavy cruisers with particle beam weapons. They opened a barrage of fire on the white alien ship. But its shields held firm, at least for the moment. Cyborg watched the battle intensely using his scanners. "I think that their deflectors can't withstand this attack indefinitely" he told his mesmerized team mates who watched the one sided battle in abject wonder. It was obvious from Starfire's gaze that she simply couldn't believe what she was seeing. A single ship able to deflect a full out Gordanian assault. Inconceivable.

At that moment the crew of the mystery ship decided that they had had enough of the Gordanians. A barrage of what looked like lasers erupted from the now very active alien ship. The Gordanian scout ships were popping like soap bubbles and in less than 30 seconds 10 of the heavy cruisers were destroyed. The Gordanians knew that they had lost this battle and they began their retreat. But before engaging their FTL drives they sent a message straight to Titans tower. It was simple and straight to the point:

'We will return, and with help. The Princess will be ours.'

Then the remnant of the Gordanian fleet vanished as it jumped away. 


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

– We come in peace.

There was a stunned silence in the Titans ops room. The alien ship had stopped firing its deadly weapons. Garfield broke the silence "No one is that accurate, not even computers are that good, I don't think they missed a single shot".

"Actually, they missed 0.034% of their shots" Raven added, looking up from the ops console.

"How is that possible?" Garfield replied bewilderedly. "What gives?"

"I sense something very strange from that ship, I can't put my finger on it, but I do know that they are not hostile" the empath shared.

"I suppose then that we should contact them and thank them for saving our collective butts" Nightwing intoned.

"Sounds reasonable to me. I am accessing all known hailing frequencies" the bionic man announced. For a while nothing happened, then there was a handshake and they had a visual on the screen. What they saw was not what they expected. On their giant view screen was a silver colored, humanoid looking robot, which began to speak in gibberish. Nightwing responded "I am sorry, but we cannot understand your language". After hearing the response the robots speech pattern began to quickly shift and change and after about 30 seconds it spoke in fluent English with a female voice and a midwestern US accent.

"Greetings. I am K4TC, human-cyborg relations. I see that you speak the American dialect of the English language"

"You speak English?" Garfield asked in surprise.

"I am fluent in over 9 million forms of verbal communication. I was able to assimilate your language by monitoring many of your audio transmissions over the wireless medium you call radio. I must say, it is a most primitive medium, unsuitable for interstellar communication"

"Are you the commander of your vessel?" Raven inquired in her deadpan monotone.

"Me, the captain of the Jedi Arrow, oh my goodness no, that could not be. I am merely an interpreter for the crew, as they do not speak any of your Earthly languages. They are most interested in making your acquaintance. Please allow me to introduce Jedi Master Jarvik Katarra, Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano and Padawans Sleedo Osma and Nuvuti Seik. The robot stepped aside while speaking in some alien tongue, revealing 4 hooded figures that approached the screen.

At this point Garfield stepped closer to Raven, standing behind her. He noticed that she gulped nervously and that the hairs on the back of her neck were standing. "Rae, is there something we should know about?"

"I'm not sure, but I am intimidated by those 4 people, a lot. They are very powerful Gar, and I'm having a hard time reading their emotions."

"See, I told you wearing your hood up all the time was bad for Titan PR. It scares people!"

"Shut up Gar, this isn't funny."

"Sorry Rae…. Any idea what a Jedi or a Padawan are?

"It rings a bell, maybe if I dig through my books I'll remember. You can help me, since you learned to speak and read Azarathian" she added, with a hint of pride in her voice. _Gar might not be a genius, but he was lot smarter and talented than most people gave him credit_ she thought to herself.

The taller figure approached the screen even more and lowered his hood. He looked human, as he had the skin color of a Mediterranean Caucasian human . He began to speak and the robot began to translate on the fly.

"Greetings. I am Jarvik Katarra, the commander of this vessel, the Jedi Arrow. I apologize for the battle with the alien fleet above your world. If these are your allies I apologize for the destruction involved, but they were beginning to overwhelm our defenses and we found ourselves left with no choice other than to fight back."

Nightwing interrupted "The Gordanians are no friends of ours. You performed a great favor by chasing them away. We must admit that your ship is most awe inspiring."

The droid translated and Jarvik responded "We are happy to have been of service to you. Please allow me to introduce my crew. This is my second in command Ahsoka Tano".

Ahsoka stepped forward and lowered her hood. She was clearly not human. Starfire suddenly came alive, perhaps because she noticed that the alien girl also had orange skin. "Where are you from how did you get here what is your favorite color and will you be my friend?" her eyes glowed with excitement as the words burst joyfully from her lips at a pace the protocol droid could barely interpret.

"Well let's see, I'm originally from Togruta, but my last home was on a planet called Obroa Skai, I arrived here on the Jedi Arrow through that wormhole, my favorite color is green (she said this while looking at Garfield, Raven was not pleased) and I'd love to be your friend."

"Glorious!" Starfire exclaimed, performing an aerial pirouette.

Jarvik chuckled. "Ahsoka could use more friends. She is so serious. She is the youngest Jedi Knight ever. She even has a nickname: The Teen Titan." Upon seeing the stunned looks on their faces he asked "Did I say something wrong?"

Cyborg replied "Not really, it's just that's what we are called: The Teen Titans. Oh, and what's a Jedi Knight?"

"It's hard to explain. The short version is that we are the keepers of peace and justice in our galaxy," _or at least we used to be _Jarvik added sadly to himself.

"That's kind of what we do" Garfield chimed in.

"The last two members of our crew are apprentices." The Padawans dropped their hoods to reveal their alien features.

"I can see that this introduction has been somewhat overwhelming for you. I propose that we meet in person. We should have individual translators in place which will allow us to converse with you without needing protocol droids" Would this be agreeable to you?"

The Titans huddled for a minute. Nightwing broke the huddle and turned to the screen. "We agree. Let's meet in two hours on the top of our tower."

"We look forward to meeting you, Titans. It appears that we have much in common"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The tower was abuzz. The mysterious visitors were due to arrive within 10 minutes. Raven and Garfield had been barricaded in her room trying to find a reference to the mysterious Jedi Knights in her vast collection of strange and to be quite frank, weird books. Garfield's command of Azarathian was pretty weak. It would be considered high school level, that is if you could find a high school that taught it. As Garfield plowed through Raven's books it dawned on him that he must really love her, as her collection of the weird and gruesome would scare away any normal guy. Fortunately for Garfield, he was not normal.

"Found it!" Raven shouted triumphantly.

"So what's the deal with the Jedi Knights" he asked.

"They are practitioners of the Force. They visited Azarath almost 1000 years ago. According to this ancient text their powers are most formidable. Of interest is their preferred hand to hand weapon: the light saber"

"Uh Rae, in English please"

Raven did something she hadn't done in a while, at least not with Gar involved. She rolled her eyes.

"Remember when Robin left for a while to train with the True Master?"

"Yeah, we all dressed up like him. It was cool until he busted us when he came back"

She sighed. She clearly didn't love Gar because he was the sharpest knife in the drawer. He did have other redeeming qualities, however.

"Remember how Robin's martial arts skills improved. His explanation was that he learned to use the Chi when fighting. The Force is similar to the Chi, but much more powerful. The Jedi can summon the Force to perform all sorts of tasks. They can levitate massive objects, summon super human strength, see into the future, heal wounds, persuade the weak minded, etc. To many their powers appear to be magical, even though they are not. Remember their incredible aim in the battle? They used the Force."

"Dude!"

"Light sabers are sword like weapons with blades composed of pure energy. They can slice through just about anything. They are master duelers with their sabers, which they also use to deflect attacks from convention weapons like guns and lasers. It also says here that not all practitioners of the force use their power for good. There are evil practitioners who draw upon the dark side of the Force. The masters are known as Sith Lords and their lower level apprentices are often called Dark Jedi"

Raven closed her book, appearing to be lost in thought.

Suddenly Garfield's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Rae, Rae!"

"What?

"They're just like Clash of the Planets!"

"Are you insane?"

"No, they really are, it's almost a one to one match. The Jedi are just like the Space Samurai!"

Raven regarded her fiancé very gravely. Then, in her best, old school, deadpan, monotone voice she said: "Garfield Mark Logan, you will not mention this to the Jedi, under any circumstances. Do you understand?"

"Sure Rae, but why?"

"If anyone is to share this insulting coincidence with the Jedi, I would prefer that it be Cyborg or Nightwing, and not you"

"But why babe?"

"Because I want you to still be alive on our wedding day, that's why. Anyway, it's time to head to the roof. The Jedi will be arriving soon. And don't call me babe."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Raven and Garfield were the last to reach the top of Titans tower, which was a little crowded due to all the visiting titans as well as a few other dignitaries. Nightwing was wondering how Batman got word of this event and how he managed to arrive on time. Cyborg was gazing at the sky and was the first to see the shuttle, which gracefully approached the landing pad, raised its lower wings and landed. The four Jedi emerged from the rear of the shuttle, accompanied by K4TC. Various smaller droids that seemed to communicate via beeps and whistles emerged from the ship, and began to perform maintenance tasks.

Jarvik Katarra was an imposing looking man. He was about 2 meters tall. He would have been awe inspiring even if he had been a normal human being without power over the mysterious Force. But he also seemed to be very inviting and everyone seemed to relax in his presence. Raven wondered to herself if he might be using the Force to diffuse a stressful moment. Ahsoka Tano walked next to him, and they were followed by the two Jedi apprentices. Ahsoka was physically the opposite of Jarvik. She was petite, even smaller than Raven. She had a very intense look in her eyes. What really weirded Raven out was that she could not sense any emotions from the two Jedi. The apprentices, on the other hand, were a jumble of emotions. They were trying to control them, and to their credit they did far better than any of her team mates. But Raven was simply amazed that she could sense no emotions whatsoever from the two Jedi. This was a level of control that was far greater than anything she had ever accomplished.

Nightwing stepped forward. "I welcome you to Earth and to Jump City. I am known as Nightwing. These are my immediate team mates and my closest friends. Starfire is my wife. She hails from the planet Tamaran. Her people possess super human strength and the ability to fly. She can also launch bursts of energy from her body." He then introduced Cyborg. After him he moved onto Raven and Garfield. "This is our other couple, Raven and Garfield. We were in the middle of planning their wedding just before the Gordanians and your ship arrived. Garfield is a shape shifter and Raven is a sorceress."

"I am most pleased to meet Earth's Teen Titans" Jarvik replied. He then stopped and gave Raven and Garfield a second glance.

"Uh, is something wrong?" Gar nervously asked.

"Don't mind Master Katarra" intoned Ahsoka. "He simply noticed that the Force is unusually strong with Garfield."

"Really?" Garfield piped up.

"Absolutely", Ahsoka continued. "Your shape shifting abilities are possible in part because you are what we call Force Sensitive"

"What about me?" Raven inquired, barely able to conceal the disappointment in her voice.

Jarvik replied "I cannot feel the force in you at all, which is very strange as the Force flows through all living beings. But do not be alarmed. The Force has a different feel in this dimension. To be quite honest, we are still getting accustomed to this dimension. We have found it to be most unsettling."

Raven was alarmed by this news, and Garfield could tell. He very subtly took her hand and squeezed it the way he always did when she needed reassuring. The gesture did not go unnoticed by Raven, but she still had a sense of dread. Did this have something to do with her demonic heritage? Were the Jedi aware that she was a demoness?

Then Jarvik spoke to her. "You're Azarathian, aren't you?"

She nodded.

"Well, that explains it then. Azarathians do not possess midichlorians, which is why they are outside of the Force. They are one of the few known races with this condition."

Raven exhaled a very quiet sigh of relief. "Have you met any Azarathians before?" She asked.

"Indeed I have. Azarath was destroyed not too long ago by an inter-dimensional being named Trigon. Many Azarathians sought refuge in the Galactic Republic in our dimension. We later learned that Trigon was destroyed by his own daughter."

Raven gulped, still wondering of the Jedi knew exactly who she was. She was immensely grateful that her team mates kept mum about the fact the she was Trigon's daughter. She had no idea on how the Jedi would react if they learned the truth.

"I would love to visit your dimension and find some of my people. I thought that they were all lost when Azarath was destroyed."

At this point Jarvik became very somber. "I am afraid that won't be possible at this time. The truth is that we are in exile in your dimension. Our arch enemies, the Sith, have overthrown the Republic and replaced it with a Galactic Empire. They have killed most of the Jedi. The few who survived are like us, dispersed and in exile. While we hope to get in touch with the surviving Jedi, the truth is that if the Sith become aware of our survival they will come looking for us"

"What chance is there of that happening to you?" Nightwing asked.

"Almost none" replied Ahsoka "We employed a little known trick to jump into your dimension, a trick that faked our destruction while we escaped."

"Seems pretty hopeless" Garfield moaned.

"Not at all" Nuvuti exclaimed. "There is a prophesy of one who will bring balance to the Force. We mistakenly assumed that a Jedi named Anakin Skywalker was the fulfillment of that prophesy. Instead he betrayed the Jedi and joined with the Sith. Let there be no doubt, the chosen one will appear and will destroy the Sith".

"Nuvuti speaks correctly. We need a place to regroup and complete our Padawans' training. When the time is right we will return to the Republic to help the Chosen One destroy the Sith" Ahsoka added.

"Master Katarra" Garfield asked cautiously. "Is it possible for others to be trained as Jedi Knights?"

"If you are asking about yourself, it would be very difficult. You are soon to be wed. The Jedi code does not allow us to have spouses or even mates." He paused. "But these are usual times, and during times such as these rules are often changed."

"Are you insane?" Raven hissed into Garfield's ear. "Do you want to be on the run from the Sith? It's tough enough being a Titan"

Jarvik, fully aware of what was happening, smiled and added "In any case you would need your spouse's permission to join the Jedi order. But do not lose heart young changeling. You might still be able to learn a great deal about the Force, even if you never become a Jedi."

Once again Nightwing stepped into the fray. "We would be honored to have you stay with us. Perhaps you might wish to join us on some of our missions"

"Thank you, Nightwing. We are most grateful for your hospitality. And we would be honored to join you in protecting your city."

Nightwing then proceeded to introduce the other Titans (East, South, North, etc.) to the Jedi, followed by the few Justice Leaguers who were also present. 


	4. Chapter 4

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

Chapter 4 – Back to Normal, Sort of

It was two days after the aborted Gordanian attack. The Jedi had returned to the Jedi Arrow and had landed it on Titans Island. Cyborg was in hog heaven, checking out all the advanced technology that the Jedi ship possessed. The repulsor lifts intrigued him the most. They allowed the corvette to silently hover and allowed atmospheric flight without the need for wings at any speed.

Inside the tower there was no evidence that the Gordanians had ever threatened the Titans or Starfire, unless one counted the four robed figures who tried to stay out of the way as the final preparations for the wedding were made. The happy day was only 4 days away. The organizers congratulated each other on how perfectly everything was going. Everyone was pleased, except for Raven.

Now Raven didn't have any issues with the ceremony (which both she and Garfield agreed would be a simple ceremony with a justice of the peace) or its location (the Tower roof). The reception, the catering were no problem. The honeymoon getaway had been chosen a while back. Raven was more than content to let her Titan "sisters" deal with all the issues. She had chosen to wear hear white winter uniform (the one with pants), even though Starfire protested. She could only imagine what kind of dress Starfire would pick for her. Probably pink and plastered with Hello Kitty logos. _And_ _people think I'm creepy!_ She thought. But there was one problem.

The Titans and the Titans east were in the common room, along with Jedi. Sleedo and Nuvuti were watching a movie with Gar, Raven, Cyborg and the eastern Titans, while munching on some salty, crunchy snacks, while they drank some sort of sweet, fizzy drinks from a can. "Those drinks will rot your teeth!" Ahsoka admonished them, to no avail. Nightwing was seated at Ops console, briefing Jarvik and Ahsoka on their arch nemesis Slade when IT happened.

The movie went to a commercial break (the Padawans thought that it wasn't all that different from watching the Holo-Net, except for the fact that it was only 2D). The first commercial was for a diet cola, and was followed by a commercial for the local tabloid "What's Jumping in Jump City". This week's edition had an unflattering photo of Garfield and Raven on the front page. It had been taken a few months ago after a fierce battle with an army of Sladebots. Raven's leotard had been torn, revealing one of her breasts (which was blurred out in the tabloid). Both Raven and Gar were giving the camera death glares. The caption below the photo read "Heroes to wed! A marriage made in heaven… or hell?"

Raven jumped to her feet. "Those ungrateful sons of bitches! We put our lives on the line to protect them, and this is how they thank us!" The giant view screen was engulfed in black energy and exploded.

Garfield was also on his feet. His face was a maelstrom of pure fury. Cyborg turned to him, desperately trying to calm him down. He was afraid that the Beast would make an appearance and kill the entire staff at the tabloid. "Yo B, calm down. It's just a stupid tabloid. Nobody believes that crap."

Meanwhile Starfire had embraced Raven and soothed her. "Cyborg is right Raven, everyone knows that 'What's jumping' only publishes lies."

Raven sobbed. "Why can't they respect our privacy? Is it really too much to ask? And how did they find out?"

"Someone we hired or contracted with for the wedding probably spilled the beans, no doubt for a hefty bribe" Bumblebee growled. "If I find out who did it they will regret ever being born".

Sleedo quietly approached Raven and Gar, and whispered to them "If you wish, I can make them pay for what they did…."

"You will do no such thing!" Ahsoka barked at Sleedo.

"Come on Ahsoka, just a prank!"

"Your pranks always seem to involve explosives and noxious gasses" the Togrutan replied, while giving the Rodian Padawan an icy glare.

"I just wanted to help…." the Rodian sighed.

Garfield turned to Sleedo "Dude. Thanks for the offer to help. We green guys have to stick together you know."

"I have noticed that there are no other green sentients on this world. Is it true that you can morph into any creature? Can you morph into a Rodian?"

"I can morph in to any animal; I can't morph into another human form, because I already am human. But I don't see why I couldn't morph into a Rodian". As he said that Garfield turned into a Perfect twin of Sleedo.

"That is so cool!" shouted Sleedo, drawing everyone's attention. Gar, being the attention hog that he was, quickly morphed into green duplicates of Nuvuti, then Ahsoka, followed by Starfire, then back into himself. Suddenly a mischievous grin appeared on his face and he began to morph once again. But before he could complete his transformation he snapped back to his normal self.

"I guess I can't do Raven because she is part human"

"Thank Azar! That would have been the epitome of disturbing. Had you succeeded I wouldn't have been able to consummate our marriage with you on our wedding night."

"Uh, good thing I failed, right?" Gar replied sheepishly.

The wedding day arrived and everything went off without a hitch. Sleedo and Nuvuti pulled two Jedi fighters out of the Jedi Arrow and made sure that the paparazzi were kept away at a safe distance.

When Raven and Gar exchanged their vows Starfire could no longer contain herself and wept tears of joy. They promised their unending love, devotion and commitment to each other and in their case no one doubted the words "till death do you part".

The reception was a grand affair. Bumblebee never did discover who the snitch was, but for some reason she suspected the Baker, who delivered a much better cake than what was originally ordered. She decided to let it go.

During the dance portion of the reception Nightwing excused himself from his wife and approached the Jedi, who were busy taking in the trappings of a North American style wedding. Ahsoka found it odd that Raven and Garfield would shove cake into each other's mouths, but to be fair she had seen much stranger wedding traditions in the Republic. _Are there still any joyful weddings back home?_ She wondered.

"Jarvik, Ahsoka, I wish to ask you something."

"Please proceed." replied Jarvik.

"Right. Where do I start? OK. On Earth it is traditional for a newlywed couple to go away on an extended trip after their wedding. Gar and Rae will be away for two weeks. We need someone to fill in for them while they are gone. Normally I would ask other Titans to cover for them, but at this time none of our affiliate teams can spare anyone. I was wondering if you might be interested in helping out. I only ask because I have a feeling that Slade is up to something."

"We would be honored Nightwing" Jarvik replied.

"Thanks, you have no idea what this means to me. And please take these". Robin handed them each a Titan communicator.

"Like you, the Titans also have a code. We place teamwork above all else. And we never kill, unless it is unavoidable. So far we have never had to take a life to protect Jump City, and hope to keep our record clean. Raven has told us a bit about your powers and I look forward to seeing you use them"

"We will abide by your code Nightwing" Ahsoka and Jarvik replied in unison.

"Another thing" Nightwing interjected "I understand that you cannot fly. I am the only Teen Titan without the gift of flight. I usually let my wife fly me to the crime scene or take my motorcycle if it's nearby. Do you have a mode of transport that you can use? Preferably a flying one"

"Sleedo, would you please move one of the speeders to the Titans garage, along with any required fuel and supplies for it." Jarvik said as he turned towards the Rodian.

"Yes Master. May I select the Nova 5000?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, yes, the 5000 will do just fine" Jarvik chuckled. The Nova 5000 was the latest and greatest air speeder on the market in Coruscant. It could hit supersonic speed without the need to close the canopy.

Nightwing thanked the Jedi once again and returned to the dance floor. He had not yet danced with Raven, who was chatting with Starfire and Jinx. "May I have a dance with my little sister?" he interrupted.

As the party began to unwind the Titans noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Logan were absent. Cyborg had built them their own apartment on the top floor, replacing two existing guest rooms. It was spacious, with its own bath, plus it was private and out of the way. Cyborg chuckled to himself. _They couldn't wait until everyone had left. Heck, I shouldn't complain. They did wait until they were married after all. Who would have thought that the green bean was so old fashioned? _

Chapter 4.5 - Slade's surprise

Raven and Garfield had departed yesterday for their 2 week honeymoon. Nightwing promised them that unless the world was about to end that he would not interrupt their escapade. He worried that he might not be able to keep that promise. He was worried about Slade. His only consolation was that if Slade tried anything he would be the recipient of a surprise. 4 surprises actually, each one with its own bright light saber.

Slade had been keeping a close eye on the Titans for the past few months. He had been well aware of the upcoming wedding. _If they only knew that it was I who leaked the wedding to the tabloid. You're getting sloppier every day Robin. Oh wait; you have a new name now: Nightwing. Very catchy I must say._

Slade's train of thought was interrupted when a knock out blonde approached him from behind and wrapped her arms around him. "So have the two losers left for their honeymoon yet?"

"They have" he replied.

"I'll never understand what he sees in her. I mean really, who in his right mind falls in love with a witch?"

"Now, now my dear, petty jealousy does not befit you"

"Jealous of that dull, gray skinned demoness? You have to be kidding me. That fact that he chose her shows that he's an even bigger loser. And why would I care anyway? I married you after all."

"Terra my dear, you are the best wife a man could ever hope for. But you have always been a poor liar. Somewhere deep inside you still have feelings for the green Titan. It is fortunate that I am not the jealous type."

Terra smirked at her husband.

"Nevertheless, with the chromatically challenged couple away for two weeks I think that we should pay the Titans a courtesy call. I am dying to meet those aliens that are boarding with them. How do you feel about a trip to the mall? If you ask me, the place is long overdue to be remodeled"

"And our newest generation of Sladebots might just provide them some motivation to get started. Just let me pick up some new shoes first" she laughed.

Later that day Nightwing and Starfire were staring out the windows in the Titan's common room. The view from the tower was the very definition of tranquility, and the couple was holding each other in tender embrace. It was too good to last, because the tower alarm went off.

By the time Cyborg and the 4 Jedi arrived at the ops station Nightwing had localized the disturbance.

"Yo Night, what is it?"

Nightwing turned to the team. "Slade, at the mall. He's unleashed hundreds of SladeBots, and they are destroying the place."

"The mall?" Cyborg moaned. "Since when does Slade rob the mall? Unless someone opened a store there that sells thermal blasters."

"No thefts as far as I can tell. I think that he is just leaving a calling card for us. Titans Go!"

Cyborg had previously explained some of Nightwing's mannerisms to Jarvik and Ahsoka, so they rushed to the garage with their Padawans in tow and jumped into the speeder. Ahsoka took the controls and they flew out of the garage at blinding speed. The 3 Titans had a head start on them but they quickly caught up.

As they travelled to their destination Jarvik pondered their new role: fighting super-villains. They really had no experience doing this, but how hard could it be? Just then something caught his eye. It was a giant humanoid that appeared to be made of permacrete. _This really is a strange dimension, can it get any weirder?_ His question was soon answered. Next to the permacrete monster stood another monster, this one appeared to be made of sludge. And it smelled like a sewer. _Next time don't ask_, he reminded himself.

Suddenly his Titan communicator chimed. He opened it and saw Nightwing's face in the viewer. "Jarvik, continue on to the mall. Destroy as many SladeBots as you can. Once we take care of Cinderblock and Plasmus we will join you there."

"Acknowledged" Jarvik replied "We are now arriving at the battle zone."

As soon as the speeder touched down the 4 Jedi leaped from the vehicle like champagne corks escaping from a bottle. As soon as they entered the building they were struck by the mayhem. There were injured civilians everywhere and hundreds of droids firing energy weapons into the building's structure. Unless they stopped them soon the building would collapse, killing everyone inside.

The Jedi split up. Using the Force Ahsoka picked up what was left of an escalator and threw it at a group of SladeBots, destroying at least 20 of them. Sleedo and Nuvuti charged into a throng of droids, their light sabers ignited and ready for action. With a grace worthy of ballet dancers they swiftly glided between the droids, deftly slicing them in half. Jarvik stood between a platoon of droids and a group of cornered civilians, skillfully deflecting the laser blasts aimed at the civilians right back at the droids. Unfortunately, each fallen droid was immediately replaced by two equally deadly doppelgangers. Jarvik decided that enough was enough, and gave a slight gesture with his free hand. Almost instantly the droids began smoking and collapsed.

By this point most of the SladeBots had been destroyed, much to Slade and Terra's chagrin, as they watched from their vantage point in the mall's upper level. Terra turned to Slade and asked him "Shall I?" He nodded in the affirmative.

Terra shouted and a large segment of concrete that she was standing on ripped away and levitated and floated down to the 4 Jedi, who were finishing off the last SladeBots with help from the Titans who had just arrived.

"Just who are you supposed to be? Monk man and hoodie girl?" Terra laughed.

The three Titans stopped in their tracks and said her name in unison. "Terra?"

"Jarvik, Ahsoka, she's a Geomancer. Be careful!" Nightwing shouted.

Starfire flew up and began bombarding Terra with a volley of Star bolts. Terra laughed as she shielded herself with a floating slab of concrete that she had just torn from a wall.

"Starfire, I see that you are clueless as ever" Terra taunted her as she flung a pile of bricks at the Princess. One hit her in the head and she fell. Nightwing saw Nuvuti make a subtle gesture with her hand and Starfire stopped falling, as if caught by invisible hands.

Cyborg and Nightwing charged at Terra, who levitated away. Cyborg ignited his Stark Labs rockets and gave chase.

"So you can fly now, how nice. Let's see you dodge this." Terra's eyes glowed yellow and hundreds of tiles broke away from a wall, shattering into thousands of razor sharp pieces, all flying towards Cyborg as a large cloud. Cyborg screamed in pain as the shards hit his few exposed flesh areas. He crashed into a wall and did not move. Sleedo ran to him and attended his wounds.

Jarvik now understood why the Titans considered the Geomancer to be so dangerous. _I have to stop her now, but without killing her._

Jarvik turned to face Terra and raised his left hand towards her.

"What's that monk man, are you waving goodbye? I hope not because you're next!"

Terra raised her arms and hers eyes began to glow. At that moment what appeared to be bolts of lightning leapt from Jarvik's fingers, engulfing Terra's body. Terra screamed in agonizing pain for a few seconds and lost consciousness. Nightwing and Starfire went bug eyed after witnessing Jarvik's display of raw power.

Nightwing approached Jarvik "What was that?!"

Terra regained consciousness. She heard her husband's voice in her earpiece. "Terra! Retreat! Now!"

She didn't need to be told twice. She jumped onto a piece of concrete and flew away as fast as she could.

Shocked? I hope you are!

Terra's back!  
>And she's married to Slade!<p>

What's next?


	5. Chapter 5

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

Chapter 5 -Aftermath

Ahsoka, Nuvuti and Sleedo stared at Jarvik in total and abject horror. Nightwing repeated his question "What WAS that?!"

Finally Ahsoka spoke up "That was Sith Lightning"

"Force lightning" corrected Jarvik.

"Don't give me that nonsense!" howled Ahsoka. "The lightning can only be conjured by using the Dark Side of the Force".

"Did you feel a Dark Side tremor in the Force?" Jarvik asked calmly.

"No, but that doesn't mean you didn't use it" Ahsoka said accusingly.

"Ahsoka, I am not the only Jedi who can conjure the lightning. There are other Masters who can do it."

"Like Count Dooku?"

"This is pointless. End of discussion"

"The Council was right concerning you!"

The Titans were stunned to witness such an exchange between the two Jedi. Nightwing approached Ahsoka.

"Is everything OK?"

"I'm not sure." Ahsoka replied.

Nightwing was tempted to call Raven to ask her for advice. But he had promised not to call. Then, as if on cue, his communicator chimed. He flipped it open to see Raven and Gar's concerned faces.

"You look awful." Raven remarked.

"We just saw on that Slade demolished the Jump City Shopping Center." added Gar.

"Is everyone OK? What happened?" Raven asked.

"You don't want to know." Nightwing replied "We have things under control. Forget about it and enjoy your honeymoon." He flipped his communicator shut. Then he remembered that Cyborg had been seriously wounded by Terra. _Maybe I should call Raven back and ask her to teleport back home to heal Cy_.

He turned and saw his bionic team mate sitting up, chatting with Sleedo. The cuts on his face and upper arms didn't look all that bad.

"Cy, are you OK? For a moment there I thought that Terra had seriously injured you…"

"She did" Cyborg interjected. "But Sleedo applied this medicine to my wounds called Bacta. It heals wounds even faster than Raven's powers".

Nightwing was getting tired of hearing how wonderful the Jedi were. But he was grateful that Sleedo had attended to Cyborg. "Thanks Sleedo. I was very worried about Cyborg." The Padawan nodded back at him.

Nightwing noticed that the rescue crews were arriving and taking over the recovery efforts.

"Let's go home" he told his now hybrid team.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As Terra and Slade returned to their lair, their condition could at best be described as "shell shocked".

"What the hell happened back there? Who were those people?" Terra moaned.

"You mean 'monk man' and 'hoodie girl'?" Slade hissed.

"No, I was asking about the hunky guy at the Panda Express. Who were those 4 people?"

Slade sighed. "I think I know who they are." he paused.

"Would you mind sharing?"

"Remember how I served Trigon after I fell into your lovely lava pit?"

"How could I forget?"

"Well, there were some side benefits to working for the big red guy. I got to do some travelling on company time. As into other dimensions. I had a lot of spare time before Raven's unforgettable birthday came up. In one dimension I learned about an order of warriors known as the Jedi Knights. I am certain that the 4 we saw at the shopping center were Jedi."

Slade was chuckling.

"Uh, dear, those Jedi kicked our asses worse than the Titans ever did before. That lightning that came out of his hand, it felt like it was sucking the life right out of my body. Why are you so happy?"

"I know someone who will pay dearly to learn of their whereabouts, and maybe eliminate the Titans in the process."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely"

Terra took her husband's hand. "Shall we adjourn to our bedroom to celebrate our good fortune" she said seductively with an evil grin on her face.

"I told you that you would never regret dumping the green moron."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Raven and Gar stared at the now blank screen on Raven's communicator.

Gar spoke first "I don't believe a word he said"

"Same here" she replied "He's hiding something, I can feel it."

Gar moved to his laptop PC, to search for more news regarding the disaster back home.

"Rae, come here, you need to see this"

Raven walked over to where Gar was sitting and glanced over his shoulder at the screen. It had a picture of Jarvik with what appeared to be lightning coming out of his left hand while he held a purple bladed light saber in his right hand. The lightning was engulfing a tall, shapely blonde woman who was levitating on a rock. It was obvious that she was in excruciating pain.

"Terra?!" she exclaimed.

"That's what it looks like. Boy, she sure has changed since the last time I saw her."

"Don't get any bright ideas Romeo" Raven frowned.

"You realize that this means she's back with Slade."

Raven sighed. _Why does everything bad happen when it's our turn to have a good time?_

"Yes. Now what do we do?"

Gar pondered his reply carefully. "We stay here and try not to think about it. The latest news article says that Slade's forces were routed. It sounds like he wasn't expecting this outcome. There's no doubt that he will regroup and strike again, but that will take some time. By then we'll be home."

"Since when are you so smart?"

"I'm not just a pretty green face, you know" he chuckled. "Let's go to the beach and watch the sunset. We can go dancing after that"

"You drive a tough bargain stranger."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

–In Palpatine's Court

Terra slowly woke up. It was almost noon. Her husband lay next to her, his mask resting on his night stand. _He isn't the most handsome guy in the world, but he sure is a tiger in the sack_ she thought to herself. Slade stirred and woke up. He instinctively reached for his mask and put it on.

"You know that you don't need to wear that when it's just the two of us" she purred.

"It's part of who I am."

"So I should consider myself lucky that you take it off when we 'celebrate', right?"

"There is a place and time for everything my dear."

Terra snorted. "Sure. Speaking of which, when are you going to tell me how are we going to contact this friend of yours?"

"We will travel to him. And he isn't my friend. Truth be told, he has no friends. He's more of a benefactor."

"Sounds a bit like you." Terra teased him.

"Not so. He doesn't have a spouse, mate or even a lover."

"He sounds like a barrel of fun. Who is he?"

"He is a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious. I met him when I briefly served as Trigon's emissary to the Sith. I offered him an alliance with Trigon, which he politely declined. As an act of good faith he presented me with a starship. Since Trigon had no need for a starship, I kept it for myself."

"You have a starship? What other surprises have you kept from me?"

"Remember the Ring of Azar I told you about?"

"The one you gave to Starfire so she could fight Trigon?" she replied.

"Correct. I have more of them. Different rings have different powers. One of them grants the power to jump between dimensions."

"So how can this Darth Sidious help us?"

"When I met him he was plotting to overthrow that Galactic Republic that existed in his dimension. The Jedi at the time were a misguided group of peace keepers who kept the Republic safe."

"Ugh! You mean they are a Galactic version of the Titans?"

"Somewhat. As you experienced firsthand yesterday, they are quite formidable. Part of Sidious' plot to over throw the Republic was to eliminate the Jedi. I believe that these 4 Jedi are exiled here in our dimension. Their ship is in perfect condition. There is nothing to prevent them from returning to their original dimension. This must mean that Sidious was successful and conquered his galaxy."

"Why would he care about 4 Jedi if he took over an entire Galaxy?"

"Much like me he is an obsessed man, Terra. He won't rest until every Jedi is either dead or has pledged allegiance to him and the Dark Side of the Force."

"So when do we leave?"

"This evening. Pack your bags. We might be gone for a while."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Two weeks had elapsed. Gar and Raven returned from their honeymoon. Neither had a tan to show off, since both lacked melanin and relied on other compounds to provide them with their green and gray skin pigmentations. Nevertheless both seemed to glow. Married life was already suiting them quite well.

As soon as they unpacked they were treated to a welcome home dinner prepared by Cyborg, which the Jedi were invited to join. To everyone's amazement, Cyborg prepared an all vegetarian feast, including eggplant parmesan, pasta primavera and even a few vegan dishes as well. He even produced a few bottles of Asti Spumante to accompany the huge Tiramisu he served for dessert. After tasting her flute of Spumante, Ahsoka gave the underage Padawans a look that they understood immediately: No Asti for you. _It's not fair_, Sleedo thought to himself. _Ahsoka isn't 18 yet and she can have some_. They were allowed second helpings of Tiramisu, however, which they washed down with something called a 'Cappucino'. _I could get used to Earth food_, Nuvuti thought as she finished her second helping of the sweet Italian treat.

Once the meal was consumed and the light conversation was over, Nightwing began to debrief Raven and Garfield on what had happened at the mall. There was little new information, as they had followed the aftermath of the incident via various internet news outlets. And just as Garfield had predicted, Slade had been absent since the attack.

Once the debriefing was over, Gar turned to Raven "Rae, is it me, or are there bad vibes between Jarvik and Ahsoka?"

"It's not you. Until now they have been able to completely hide their emotions from me, but not since we returned. I am sensing anger in Jarvik and distrust in Ahsoka. Something has happened between them…"

Then, as if on cue, Ahsoka walked up to them. "I wish to speak with both of you, in private, if possible."

"Of course" Raven replied "Come with us"

Ahsoka followed Raven and Gar to their new top floor apartment. Cyborg had furbished it with the latest security and eavesdropping protections in the known world.

Gar broke the silence. "You may speak with confidence. This is probably the most secure room in the whole world."

_Since when does he talk like that?_ Raven thought to herself. She heard Knowledge pipe up in the back of her mind _He just keeps getting better and better, right?_ Raven silenced her emotions and the other parts of her mind, instead focusing on what Ahsoka was about to share with them.

"Raven, you may have noticed that Jarvik and I are having a problem with each other."

"Heck, I noticed, and I'm not an empath like Raven."

Ahsoka dropped her head, and then raised it again, once again facing the newlyweds.

"Jarvik used a Force power at the shopping center that is associated with the Sith."

"You mean the energy that poured from his fingers?" Raven asked.

"Yes. We Jedi call it 'Sith Lightning'. It is perhaps one of the deadliest uses of the Force. I could tell that Jarvik did not apply it with full power on the Geomancer, since she survived."

"What does this mean to us" Raven continued. "Why are you sharing this with us and not with Nightwing? He is our leader after all."

"I fear that Jarvik has been seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. If this is true we might have to expel him from Titan's Tower, as he could become dangerous."

"I understand your concern, but once again, why not inform Nightwing?"

"It concerns Garfield. I am afraid that if we expel Jarvik that he will take Garfield as his Dark Force apprentice."

"And what if I don't accept his offer?"

"Then he would kill you."

Raven and Garfield exchanged worried looks. Gar saw concern and worry in her eyes.

"So what can we do?" he added.

"I will train you as a Jedi myself." Ahsoka offered. "Between the 4 of us and the Titans we should be able keep Jarvik at bay."

"Really, you will train me?" Gar replied, unable to conceal the excitement in his voice.

"Yes, but I will need Raven's permission"

"You have it" Raven offered.

"Before I accept you permission, let me explain why I need it."

Ahsoka paused then continued.

"The bond between a Master and a Padawan learner is often described as 'intimate'."

"What?" Raven growled.

Ahsoka thought she saw Raven's eyes briefly glow red and split into two pairs of eyes.

"Oh no, nothing like that" she clarified. "It's more like an emotional bond. A good Master/Padawan pair can almost read each other's thoughts. It is a form of mental intimacy usually only found in married couples."

Raven had calmed down. "Thanks for clarifying. But to be honest, I'm still not all that comfortable with what you just told me. I now understand why you need my permission."

"Dot not worry Raven, I will not steal your husband from you. When I was granted the rank of Knight I had to take a vow of celibacy, and unlike my old Master I intend to honor that vow. Also, Gar's training will be expedited. I hope to accomplish in months what normally takes years to complete. Our bond will be superficial at best."

"Uh, I won't have to take that vow, will I?" Gar asked.

"No. First of all, I cannot confer you the rank of Jedi Knight. Only a Master can do that. Secondly, you are already married and Raven's right to your body trumps the Jedi Code."

"I thought Jarvik said that you had to be single to be a Knight" Raven asked.

"Garfield's Knighthood would be valid, but illicit."

"Meaning?" Raven continued.

"He would not be allowed to appear before the Jedi Council and could never be granted the rank of Master. Since there is no longer a Jedi Council, the point is moot. He would be a Jedi Knight. No ifs, ands or buts. That is if we could find a Master agreeable to granting him the rank itself."

Raven sat down on the couch in the apartment living room, her eyes closed, deep in thought. After a few minutes she opened her eyes and looked up at Ahsoka. "You have my consent".

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A dazzling wormhole appeared near Naboo, close enough to be seen with the naked eye from the planet's surface. A sleek, silver hulled ship emerged. It was Nubian in design, a near twin of the ship that years earlier had served as a getaway vessel for Queen Amidala, Qui Gon Jinn and Obi Wan Kenobi. This time the passenger list was different.

Slade relaxed at the controls while Terra took in the view of nearby Naboo.

"So what do we do now?" Terra asked.

"We wait for them to come to us".

Terra noticed that reality looked different in this dimension, as Slade had told her it would. She walked to the rest room and looked at her reflection in the mirror. _This is going to take some getting used to_, she thought.

"Who?"

"An imperial ship of course. You don't think that our grand entrance into this dimension went unnoticed, do you?"

Just as Slade finished speaking a giant space craft dropped out of hyperspace, hovering over them. It was a Venator class Star Destroyer. It was over 1000 meters long and even Terra could tell that it dwarfed the corvette parked in front of Titans Tower.

Suddenly they received a hail from the Star destroyer. "Nubian vessel, your transponder code has expired. Identify yourself immediately."

"This is Ambassador Slade Wilson from the Trigonic Hegemony. I seek an audience with the Imperial government."

"Transmit your diplomatic code immediately."

Slade keyed in a code on his console.

"Code received. Stand by." the voice ordered.

After a couple of minutes the voice returned. "Your code is valid. Stand by while we contact central command."

This time almost an hour elapsed. Terra was getting nervous.

"Patience, my dear, I'm sure the Dark Lord, or as he is known to the masses, Emperor Palpatine, is curious regarding our arrival."

"What's taking so long?"

"It's just chain of command Terra. Be patient."

At that moment the comm speaker came back to life. "Welcome back Ambassador. The Emperor sends you his personal greetings. We are instructed to bring you and your vessel to Coruscant. We will guide you into the main docking bay with tractor beams, so please idle your engines. Commander Tennyson will be there to greet you".

Slade flipped a switch. "Acknowledged. Engines are now off line."

Slade and Terra felt the tractor beam engage their vessel and gently guide it into the massive docking bay. Once the docking bay was sealed and pressurized they saw an honor guard approach their vessel.

"Let's not keep our hosts waiting" Slade said as he lowered the loading ramp.


	6. Chapter 6

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter 6 –The Force is with him

"Ahsoka, what's going to happen once Jarvik finds out that you are training me?" Gar asked.

"We will tell him that you approached me and asked me to train you. Hopefully this will buy us time before he turns completely to the Dark Side".

"You seem pretty convinced that outcome is inevitable. Are you sure?" Raven asked.

Ahsoka closed her eyes, deep in concentration. "It's hard to see the future. It's always in motion. But I do see the Dark Side everywhere!"

"So, better safe than sorry, huh?" Gar added.

"I suppose you could put it that way." Ahsoka agreed.

"So when do I start?"

"We can begin now. First I shall teach you to meditate. Through meditation you will be able to commune with the Force. Once you can do that, you will learn to manipulate the Force. These will of course be simple exercises at first"

"Hey no problem, Raven taught me to meditate a long time ago. We meditate together every day."

"Wonderful! Let's begin then."

Ahsoka knelt on her knees with her palms resting on her thighs. This was different from the Lotus position that Raven had taught him, but he imitated Ahsoka without question.

"Close your eyes and focus on something for which you have strong feelings."

"Huh?"

"We commune with the force through our feelings. Positive feelings draw in the light side of the Force, while negatives feelings are associated with the dark side. Find something that brings out positive feelings."

"Is love a positive feeling?"

"All positive feelings have their root in love." Ahsoka answered.

Raven was watching this with a jaundiced eye. Everything that Ahsoka was teaching Gar about meditation was diametrically opposite of what the Monks of Azarath had taught her.

"Have you found your focus?"

Garfield had indeed. It was Raven. "Yes, I have."

"Reach out with your feelings."

Garfield saw Raven in his mind's eye. He then summoned all his love for her and reached out to the mental Raven.

Raven felt a wave of warmth flow throughout her body. She almost cried out, but stifled her reaction to not interrupt Gar's concentration. She looked at him. He appeared to be in a trance like state.

"What do you feel"? Ahsoka asked.

"Like a river is flowing through me."

"Excellent, now tell the river to go to the object."

"I am" Gar replied, and then he moaned, feeling the Force flow through him even stronger than before.

Raven was so absorbed watching her husband commune with the Force that she was unaware that she was slowly levitating off the floor and was now 3 feet in the air. Ahsoka did notice and looked up at Raven, who was suddenly aware that she was levitating, but not under her own power. She gasped.

Her gasp broke Garfield's concentration, and the Force ceased to flow through him. He opened his eyes just in time to see Raven fall and land on her behind on the deep pile carpet in their living room.

"Gar, did you do that?" Raven shrieked in surprise.

"That was wonderful Garfield!" Ahsoka beamed. "I couldn't levitate anything during my first six months as a Padawan"

"Dude! That was awesome! Oh, Rae, sorry about dropping you like that."

Don't worry about it. The carpet is very plush. Cyborg wasn't kidding when he said that he spared no expense furnishing our apartment."

Ahsoka grabbed a throw pillow from the couch. "Gar, reach out with your hand and use your feelings to snatch the pillow from me."

Gar reached out and "felt" the pillow. It leaped out of Ahsoka's grip right into Gar's hand. Raven's eyes were wide open in shock.

Gar then picked up the other throw pillows and tossed them into the air. He made a circular motion with his hand and they began to fly around him, like planets orbiting a star. He giggled in delight.

At this point Ahsoka joined Raven as a member of the slack jawed club. Gar then gestured at the couch. The pillows flew to the couch and landed in a nice arrangement.

"Sweet!" Gar exclaimed.

"I think you're ready for the next lesson" said a stunned Ahsoka.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Slade and Terra were escorted into the Emperor's throne room by two guards shrouded in red robes, armed with strange looking pikes. The Emperor was seated at his high tech throne. At his right stood a man dressed in black who wore a black helmet and a grotesque face mask. The man sounded like he was in an iron lung, his deep and exaggerated breaths could clearly be heard across the room. There were several more red guards around the Emperor, there features hidden behind their ominous looking helmets.

The guards led Slade and Terra towards the throne, and stopped 5 meters from it.

Slade whispered to Terra "Kneel" as he dropped to one knee. Terra did not need to be told twice.

The Emperor rose, with a grin on his face. "Rise my friends."

Slade rose and Terra followed suit. He again whispered "Bow" and they bowed together.

"What brings you here my friend? It can't be Trigon's business, as he was destroyed."

"I'm having a Jedi problem on my home world."

That definitely caught Palpatine's attention.

"Do you know who they are?"

"I do not know their names, but I can show you who they are." Slade said as he pulled a holoprojector out of his pocket and turned it on. It displayed a 3D image of the 4 Jedi at the shopping center battle.

"So that's where Master Katarra disappeared to. Lord Vader, come look who else is there."

As Vader approached he instantly recognized the 2nd Jedi.

"It's your former Padawan, Ahsoka Tano." The Emperor said gleefully.

"Indeed it is." replied Vader.

The Emperor smiled and paused. "And who is this lovely young lady you have brought with you?"

"This is my wife Terra." Slade replied.

Terra felt her gut wrench. She could feel the evil emanate from the Emperor. _I wish I had stayed home._ She thought miserably.

"Now, now my dear, you have nothing to be afraid of. You are perfectly safe here. And it would have been so boring had you stayed home." He smiled wickedly at Terra as she realized in horror that the Emperor could read her mind like an open book.

Palpatine then turned once again to face Slade "I would be delighted to help you with your Jedi problem Mr. Wilson" he then turned to Vader "Lord Vader, arrange for an expedition to retrieve the 4 Jedi. Select someone … special to lead it. Also, contact Sienar Design Systems. Tell them that I want them to expedite the completion of the new Star Destroyer equipped with the prototype inter-dimensional jump drives."

"Yes, my master, I will see to it immediately." Vader then left the room.

"I expect that it will be several weeks until the ship and crew are ready for departure. Until then, consider yourselves as my personal guests. I will assign an escort for you. There is much to see and do on Coruscant. Now if you will excuse me, I have other matters to attend to."

Slade and Terra bowed. "You are most generous my Lord. We both thank you." After which they were escorted out of the Throne room.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Vader hated how the Emperor had this obsession with collecting Jedi and turning them to the Dark Side. Every time the Emperor was able to turn a Jedi Master to the Dark Side, it was just one more backstabber who coveted his position as the Sith apprentice. Vader decided that he didn't want the 4 Jedi captured and returned to Coruscant. He wanted them eliminated. He knew that he was doing Ahsoka a favor by doing this. She would never turn to the dark side, and Palpatine would have her die a slow and painful death. Yes, he would be doing her a favor by allowing her a quick death.

Vader knew who would be the perfect lead for the expedition. Someone who was ruthless and merciless, a loose cannon who shoots first and asks questions later. Someone who would kill the 4 Jedi if they didn't surrender. Sure, she might destroy Wilson's home world in the process, but so what? It was just some primitive back water. No one would miss it.

It was decided. He would send Asajj Ventress.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

–The calm before the storm

It was another pleasant team dinner in the tower. This time it was Raven and Garfield's turn to prepare dinner. Fortunately for all present (except perhaps Starfire who would eat a spare tire if it had enough mustard slathered on it) Raven's culinary skills had improved dramatically from the time she made those disgusting pancakes on the day the world was supposed to end.

Dinner was running a little late, so the hybrid team had already congregated in the dining room, taking in the delicious aromas coming out of kitchen. Sleedo and Nuvuti were really looking forward to dinner. The dinners at the mess hall in Obroa Skai were, to be honest, gross. The clone troopers didn't seem to mind the chow, but what did they know? Earth food on the other hand, was simply scrumptious. They had overheard Nightwing telling Jarvik that tonight was going to be "Mexican night". Whatever that meant. The only thing the two Padawans cared about were the heavenly aromas coming out of the kitchen.

Just then Raven and Gar emerged from the kitchen bearing huge platters of food. Raven had a huge platter of her ever popular Enchiladas Suizas as well as a smaller platter of Tofu Enchiladas for her better half. Gar pushed a cart with several large serving bowls full of Mexican style rice (which he made with peas and little potato cubes), vegetarian refried beans, nopales (which are very hard to make), rajas, shredded beef in a hot red sauce and a crock pot brimming with chicken mole. Several smaller bowls of different salsas were already on the table. There were also two huge baskets filled with tortillas, one with corn and the other with flour tortillas. The couple returned to the kitchen to retrieve several pitchers of 'agua de jamaica', which was actually a red tea that was brewed from hibiscus flower petals and was served chilled and sweetened. And for dessert there was the biggest Flan that Nightwing had ever seen.

Starfire offered to help by setting the table. She emerged from the kitchen carrying a large stack of dishes when she slipped on some spilled hibiscus tea. As she lost her balance the stack of dishes went flying forward right in Gar's direction. Instinctively, without even thinking he gestured with both of his hands (which happened to be free). The dishes froze mid air, suspended as if by magic. Gar quickly collected them and placed them on table.

When he looked up, everyone except for Raven and Ahsoka had stunned looks on their faces.

Gar said the first thing that popped into his mind "Dinner is served!"

Nobody moved.

"C'mon, it's going to get cold!" He moaned.

Jarvik was the first to say anything "I see that you have been learning to use the Force Garfield" while staring at Ahsoka.

"Thanks, but can we talk about it over dinner? It took over two hours to prepare all this, and I'm starving."

"Fine" Nightwing responded "but don't think you can weasel out of explaining what happened."

Gar morphed into a weasel and grabbed a butter knife, wielding it as if it were a light saber. The Titans all had a good laugh and sat down to enjoy the feast, much to Nuvuti and Sleedo's relief.

As Gar explained how his training under Ahsoka was proceeding, Raven gave the Jedi an introduction to Mexican cuisine, explaining the various dishes, the use of tortillas and salsas, etc. When the meal was complete (and to Raven's utter amazement there were no leftovers) Ahsoka announced that she felt that Garfield was now competent in defending himself from basic force attacks (such as pushes, chokes, etc.) and that he would now be starting basic light saber training. This captured Nightwing's attention. He would make sure to observe that part of Garfield's training.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Lord Vader, you requested my presence?" Asajj Ventress inquired.

"Yes Ventress. I have a very special mission for you"

"I live to serve you and the Emperor." She replied.

"We have located some Jedi who escaped order 66."

"Really? Who?"

"Jarvik Katarra, two Padawans and someone from your past."

"Ahsoka Tano?"

"Indeed."

"I seem to recall that she was once very special to you."

"I was someone else back then. That relationship no longer has any meaning to me!"

"Yes my Lord. Where are they located?"

"They fled to another dimension. They are hidden on a primitive backwater called Earth."

"That's an original name. I guess it sounds better than 'mud' or 'dirt'. How am I supposed to get there?"

"Sienar Systems is retrofitting a Venator class Star destroyer with special drives that will allow it to jump between dimensions. It should be ready for the mission in about 8 weeks. An Earthling named Slade Wilson will guide you to them. Select a crew for your mission. I suggest taking several younger Dark Jedi with you. The Star destroyer will have a standard crew assigned to it for operating purposes."

"Any special instructions my Lord?"

"If you cannot capture them, then eliminate them. Use your discretion. I will not be disappointed if you cannot capture them. Do you understand?"

"Yes my Lord, perfectly."

"I'm glad that we have come to this understanding. Also, do not concern yourself with collateral damage. Earth and its inhabitants are fully expendable. The same applies to any aliens who interfere with the mission. And one more thing. Keep an eye on Wilson and his wife. I have sensed that she has special powers, but I cannot identify them."

"Thank you for choosing me for this mission my Lord"

"Do not fail me Ventress."

"Consider the mission as accomplished my Lord."


	7. Chapter 7

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

Chapter 7–It ain't easy being green, especially when you're a Padawan

Garfield was beginning his 3rd week of light saber training. He was still restricted to using the sparring sabers, which were easily identifiable by their yellow blades. Unlike regular sabers they wouldn't cut through anything, but did sting like the devil if you were hit with one. But they hummed just like the real thing, which Garfield thought was very cool.

Just as with the Asian martial arts the Jedi practice patterns or forms. Garfield had mastered the type 1 forms and even Nightwing admitted that he looked very sharp while practicing them. Gar was having a harder time with sparring, since there were no similarly skilled apprentices with which to practice.

This meant that Gar had to spar with Nuvuti and Sleedo, which in Starfire's own words were "masters of the kicking of the butt". Gar did get better and was starting to hold his own against Nuvuti and Sleedo, when Ahsoka decided to up the ante.

"Garfield, starting today you will spar with Sleedo and Nuvuti simultaneously."

Gar shrieked "Dude! They'll totally kill me!"

"I think that's the idea Gar!" Nightwing shouted with a huge grin on his face.

"Oh crap" he muttered under his breath. _And today Raven actually came to watch, I wanted to show off to her how much I had improved. _

Two hours later Ahsoka called a lunch break, wondering if it would be pizza yet again. Gar looked for Raven in the gym's bleachers, but she was nowhere to be found. He was starving, drenched in sweat and every muscle hurt. _What was I thinking, signing up for this? _ He thought as he trudged out of the Gym. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around.

"You did great Gar, don't be discouraged. We'll start working on type 2 forms this afternoon." It was Ahsoka. Gar suddenly realized that he'd rather get slimed by Plasmus than step back into the gym this afternoon.

"See you at 1" he replied.

"Take some extra time Gar. 2 o'clock is fine."

"Thanks Ahsoka."

After what felt like an eternity Gar finally reached his apartment door. Before he could enter the code to unlock the door it swished open. Raven was standing in front of Gar.

"You look beat."

"I am." Gar replied, "Everything hurts."

She took his hand and led him to the bathroom. The Jacuzzi was fired up; there were scented candles and some soothing jazz playing. Gar could already feel his muscles begin to relax. He also noticed that there was a tray with sandwiches, chips and a huge fruit salad.

"Let me help you out of those." Raven said as she took Gar's sweat drenched outfit and dumped it into the hamper. Gar moaned as he lowered his sore body into the spa.

"Rae, you're a life saver."

"Would you like a soda to wash down those sandwiches, I made your favorite, TLTs." She said as she walked to their kitchenette.

"A root beer would hit the spot." He shouted back. "and thanks for babying me, it doesn't get any better than this…"

He paused.

Raven was standing by the bathroom door, in her birthday suit. "Here's your root beer." She said in her old school monotone deadpan.

"I guess it can get better." he grinned as she joined him in the spa, his sore muscles now a distant memory.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Trogaar sat in his command chair on the bridge of his flagship. He was still seething over his recent defeat in the Terran system. Word had reached the Citadel of his crushing defeat and he had lost all credibility in their eyes. He had asked them for assistance in mounting a second attack, but they were not interested. Apparently word had got around regarding the indestructible alien ship they encountered near Earth.

_The Citadel didn't get to where they are today by being fools_ he thought to himself.

Trogaar realized that capturing the princess would require a different approach. It would require finesse as opposed to brute force. The only problem was that was the Gordanians were not known for finesse. But it would take finesse to get around the Jedi. The Jedi! They were the talk of the town on Earth, and were even getting known on nearby systems. He had seen the footage from the shopping center incident. Where had they come from? Nobody and I mean nobody had heard of them before the ill fated attack on Earth. He had seen what their ship was capable of, and he saw how the 4 Jedi warriors routed Slade's robot army and effortlessly neutralized his Geomancer wife.

He knew that he could not defeat the Jedi. If he was smart maybe he wouldn't have to fight them at all. But he needed help. He needed an ally desperate enough to take on such a crazy mission. He needed someone cunning and treacherous. Someone who could trick Koriand'r into letting herself be captured. And he knew who that person was.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Slade and Terra were attending a gala celebration in the Emperor's honor. It was the dedication of a new wing in the Galactic History museum, a new wing dedicated to Palpatine. The crowd was as veritable "who's who" of the Galactic Empire.

Security was airtight. Slade could not wear his trademark mask, and was forced to wear an eye patch over his now defunct right eye. Terra was concerned she would not have "anything to wear", but the truth was that her Earthly fashions didn't look out of place here as the variety of fashions matched the variety of worlds represented. Nevertheless the level of security bothered him. Perhaps Palpatine's grip on the Galaxy wasn't as firm as he claimed.

Slade saw the #2 Sith approaching them, with a tall, bald woman with perhaps the harshest features he had ever seen walking beside Vader. He noticed that the woman had two light sabers attached to her belt, both with curved grips.

"Wilson." Vader addressed Slade. "This is Asajj Ventress. She will be leading the expedition to extricate the 4 Jedi from Earth."

"My pleasure Ms. Ventress." Slade replied.

"We shall meet tomorrow at Central Command. You will brief me on the situation on Earth: political entities, police and defense forces. The location of the Jedi and any allies and enemies they have." Her voice hissed like an angry asp.

"I have all materials prepared already." Slade replied. "I can be there at any time that is convenient for you."

"We will meet at 8:00 AM. Do not be late." She abruptly turned and walked away. Then she stopped. Without turning around she said "And do not bring her with you." Then she left.

Slade turned to Vader. "She must be very effective. How long have you known her?"

"That is not your concern Wilson."

"Forgive me my impertinence, My Lord."

Vader said nothing and also turned abruptly and walked away.

"Is everybody in this dimension scary beyond reason?" Terra asked Slade.

"Only the ones who matter." Slade replied.

At that moment fanfare was played over loudspeakers. Palpatine entered the new museum wing, accompanied by Vader, Ventress and several other scary looking types. Slade recognized Master Jerec from his previous trip. The blind Jedi was one of the first to surrender to the Empire and embrace the Dark Side of the Force. There were over a dozen of the Emperor's creepy red guards as well. The group filed up a dais where there was a podium. Palpatine walked up to the podium and addressed the crowd.

"Citizens of the Empire, I greet you. We are here today to celebrate the victory of order over anarchy. Just a few months ago we were in the middle of a Galactic Civil War that threatened to destroy the very fabric of our civilization. As we all know, the Jedi Knights were behind this disorder and have been dealt with. They continue to plot against us and we will not rest until their threat has been eradicated forever. "

Palpatine paused. Suddenly several red guards appeared around Slade and Terra, motioning them towards the dais.

Palpatine continued."A long time friend and ally has located 4 of these renegades and their threat will soon be eradicated. Citizens, I present to you Slade and Terra Wilson, heroes of the Empire!"

At this point Slade and Terra faced the crowd and bowed. The mass of sycophants erupted into wild applause.

Then a deafening explosion was heard, and it came from above. Slade looked up and saw that the massive roof over the new wing was collapsing and there was no way to get out in time. He also saw Palpatine, Vader and the light saber crowd raising their hands, willing the cave in to stop. They could not, it was simply too massive. They would all be crushed, including Slade and Terra.

Terra had also seen what was happening. Her eyes began to glow yellow and she raised her arms and roared. To everyone's amazement the cave in stopped, with huge pieces of permacrete, some weighing several tons simply floating like soap bubbles. Terra gave another grunt and the mass of shattered roof was flung landing safely away from the Emperor and his entourage.

Palpatine approached the Wilsons. "My friend, I am in your debt" Palpatine told him deadpan. "Rest assured you will be rewarded handsomely. Mrs. Wilson is most talented, isn't she Lord Vader?"

_Sometimes it just pays to be lucky_ Slade pondered.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

–Starfire and Nightwing

It was 2 AM and Nightwing was sitting in his office, stewing in his own juices.

There had been no sign of Slade in over 6 weeks. Nothing. He had tried everything, searched everywhere. Slade had simply vanished.

Nightwing had been tense all week, snapping at everyone, especially at Starfire when she tried to get him to relax.

And to make matters worse, Gar had humiliated him during bo staff sparring that morning. Gar had been exempted from the Titans regular training and Nightwing decided that enough was enough. What made things worse was that Gar had defeated him every match without making any real effort. _And I made an ass out of myself by demanding endless rematches, until Cyborg stepped in to stop me._

He dropped his head on his desk and slammed his fist against it. Then instinctively he turned. Starfire had entered his office.

"Richard, please come to bed" she implored him.

"Not now Star, I'm not ready."

"Please come Richard, come, and I will make you forget all your problems."

He stared at her. She was dressed only in a night gown. Starfire had filled out nicely as she reached maturity. _Nicely? She was a goddess! Compared to her Raven was a mousy school girl, and Raven receives tons of fanboy mail. What am I doing here? Just look at her face. I am a klorbag_ he thought.

"Forgive me Star, I'm an idiot."

"That's the first intelligent thing you've said in a week." She replied with her arms crossed.

"How about a second intelligent idea" he grinned "Let's go on a second honeymoon, somewhere far away, say a secluded resort in the South Pacific?"

Starfire's frown vanished. "When?" she beamed.

"As soon as possible. We can visit a travel agent tomorrow. Maybe we can get Ahsoka to take us there in the Jedi shuttle craft. We could be there within a few hours of booking the trip."

She took his hand. "Come to bed, I wish to make you forget your troubles."

"But I already have forgotten them."

"Then just pretend you still haven't" she grinned.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ahsoka and Garfield were going through the prelaunch sequence in shuttle. It was the same model shuttle that Palpatine took when he traveled to Mustafar to rescue Darth Vader from a fiery and dismembered death. It could easily traverse the Milky Way galaxy in hours, and it was overkill for the journey to the South Pacific, but it would provide Gar some practice at the controls. Raven decided to come along for the ride. After dropping the stressed couple off they would take a side trip to Tamaran to pick up a care package for Starfire from Galfore, which they would drop off on the way back.

_Probably some disgusting food. _Raven thought to herself.

The trip only took 30 minutes. And before they knew it Star and Dick were watching the shuttle fly away.

"Gar has become quite the pilot, hasn't he Richard."

"You can't argue with success." He conceded. "Shall we get some lunch?"

"Oh yes, Raven told me that they have a most wonderful Japanese restaurant here in the resort."

As they left, Richard noticed that Starfire had forgotten her handbag. _Aw, she won't need it_, he thought to himself.

It was windy, and Starfire noticed that her hair needed brushing when they arrived at the restaurant

"Richard, I forgot my handbag, and I need my brush."

"I'll go back and get it for you" he offered.

"No don't, I'll fly back quickly, it will be faster. Why don't you just go on in and get us a table. I will be back in no time."

"OK" he grinned.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Starfire entered their room and walked to the dresser to grab her hand bag, leaving her door open. She heard the door slam and turned around, shocked at what she saw: a perfect doppelganger of herself, holding a Gordanian stun gun.

"Who are you?" she demanded angrily.

"Don't you recognize me sister?" Blackfire grinned evilly. "Don't tell me that a little hair dye and some contact lenses did the trick?" she laughed.

Starfire lunged at her sister, who pulled the trigger on the stun gun. Starfire collapsed instantly. Two Gordanian warriors emerged from the bathroom and carried her away.

_Well, that's part one of the deal _Blackfire told herself. _Now to infiltrate the Titans and steal that beautiful ship._

Trogaar had promised to restore her to the throne on Tamaran if she was successful in stealing the Jedi Arrow.

_And now to impersonate my sister. Mmmm, I wonder how good o a lover Richard is._ she laughed inwardly. _I guess I'll be finding out soon enough. _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Raven, Ahsoka and Gar were on their merry way back from Tamaran after Galfore had loaded the shuttle with his "care package", all 4 metric tons of it.

Raven was still laughing at the sheer volume of it. "What in the world could be packed in there?" she laughed.

"Probably 4 tons of cream of toenails and fungus." Garfield chuckled. Raven laughed even louder in reply.

Ahsoka sat quietly as the shuttle flew through hyperspace, getting closer to Earth. She realized that this was a private joke that Gar and Raven were sharing with each other, and left it at that.

She did have something else she wanted to bring up.

"Garfield?" she interrupted.

"Yes?" said the still snickering green jokester.

"I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you having completing basic light saber training. You use the force with skill and you technique is excellent."

"He's also buffed out nicely. I owe you one." Raven said as she fondled his now much beefier arms.

"Get a room you two!" Ahsoka laughed. She had caught on to American slang much faster than Starfire ever did.

"Anyway" she continued after getting her laughter under control "what I'm trying to say is that you are ready to wield a real light saber."

The shuttle cabin became silent, until Raven broke the silence with an uncharacteristic (at least for her) "Dude!"

Ahsoka smiled. She envied the relationship they had, and simply could not believe the stories about how they used to constantly bicker with each other.

"And I want you to have this one." She reached into her Jedi robe and pulled out a shiny silver light saber, handing it to Garfield, who stared in awe at the precious gift.

"Go ahead, ignite it"

Garfield pressed the power switch with his thumb and the familiar snap-hiss sound echoed throughout the cock pit.

"The blade is the same hue of purple as Raven's hair." Gar whispered.

"Do you like it?" Ahsoka teased him, already knowing the answer.

Gar shut the saber off, then turned to his Jedi master. "Ahsoka, it's beautiful, I don't know what to say."

"Uh, how about 'Thank you'?" Raven volunteered.

Gar quickly turned to Raven then back to Ahsoka. "Yeah, right, I mean, of course, thank's".

Ahsoka rose from her seat and embraced both of them. "Nothing but the best for my favorite Titans. It was given to me by Jedi Master Mace Windu as a gift when I passed the trials."

Just then the Nav computer chimed and the shuttle dropped out of hyperspace into high Earth orbit.

"Shall we deliver the care package, or at least a sample of it?" Ahsoka shared as she watched Gar take the shuttle into the atmosphere.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

TLT = Tofu, Lettuce and Tomato


	8. Chapter 8

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter 8 – Blackfire

Blackfire was finding it harder to keep up her impersonation of her sister than she anticipated. For one thing she hadn't seen her sister in years and wasn't up to date on her sister's latest mannerisms. She was going "retro" and hoped Nightwing wouldn't notice.

As they had dinner Nightwing found it odd that Starfire was dousing her sushi in mustard. While she remained a mustard freak she had learned to appreciate some foods without the magical condiment, and sushi was one of those treats. Nightwing would have just shrugged it off, but she was just being weird.

"Star, are you OK?"

"Oh yes Richard, I am most satisfactory, I mean, I am the OK."

"What?"

Blackfire was debating whether to cut and run, but she was determined to sleep with Nightwing before it came to that, even if that meant she had to kill him afterwards. _I can't wait to tell dear sister what I did with her hubby before I killed him._

"Let us return to our room and make the love, yes?"

Nightwing gave her a funny look. "Uh, sure, whatever you say Star."

As they walked back to the room (actually it was a cabana right on the beach) they saw the shuttle land on the beach, and Raven emerged from it holding a small box.

As she approached Nightwing shouted "You went all the way to Tamaran just to retrieve that little box?"

"There's 4 more tons of whatever this in the cargo hold." Raven replied.

"Where is friend Beast Boy? I wish to give him the greetings." Blackfire clumsily articulated trying to imitate a Starfire that no longer existed.

_Beast boy? She hasn't called him that in years. Nobody calls him Beast Boy anymore. Is she trying to piss me off?_ Raven wondered.

"Uh Star, are you feeling ok?"

Blackfire realized that her cover was about to be blown. But before clearing out she decided to have a little fun.

"I am, but I don't think you will be." She belted Raven in the face, knocking her out. She then turned to Nightwing "Hello brother-in-law! Care to do it with a real woman?" She said in her real voice.

Meanwhile Gar and Ahsoka were back in the shuttle, discussing tomorrow's training plan when he felt a piercing shock in the Force. He winced in pain, but immediately understood what had happened. He said a single word as he bolted from the shuttle: "Raven!" Ahsoka followed right behind him.

As they arrived at the Cabana a very strange sight greeted Gar. Starfire was beating Nightwing savagely, but it was Blackfire's voice that he heard "So I'm not good enough for you, am I you puny human!" Nightwing was motionless, bleeding from every orifice of his body, clearly unconscious.

Raven was struggling to get up, still seeing stars from Blackfire's super human backfist strike. She spat out a few teeth and blood. Blackfire noticed her stirring and turned to her.

"Time to finish you off, little gray girl." She drew back her right hand, preparing a huge star bolt with which to kill Raven. She then heard a snap-hiss sound behind her and before she could turn around she felt a sharp pain in her right wrist. She let out a scream of horror when she saw that a stump was all that was left of her right hand. She drew back her other hand to launch a star bolt, but it suffered the same fate as the first. By this point she was in total shock, and it was then that she saw that it was Garfield who wielded the strange Jedi weapon. He then morphed into a gorilla and knocked her out with a blow to her head.

He immediately morphed back into his human form and ran to Raven's side. She was on all fours and her face was covered in blood.

"Rae! Rae! Are you ok?" Gar wailed at the sight of his beloved. Meanwhile Ahsoka was examining Nightwing. He appeared to have several broken ribs and a concussion.

"It looks worse than it is." How's Richard?

"He's in bad shape Raven. She almost killed him. And don't say you're ok. I can see your teeth on the floor!"

"I can grow them back with a spell" she coughed "Let me help Richard."

Raven approached Nightwing and began to mend his wounds, starting with his concussion. Meanwhile Gar had retrieved some wet towels from the bath and wiped the blood off her face while she worked on Nightwing. The right side of her face was a mess, as if someone had hit her with a crow bar. Ahsoka applied some Bacta to her face. Raven moved onto Nightwing's ribs. Once she had finished him she asked Gar to take her to the shuttle, which he did. As soon as he laid her down on a bunk in the rear of the shuttle she went immediately into her levitating healing trance. Gar ran back to the Cabana, which was now surrounded by a crowd. As he entered he saw Ahsoka securing the still unconscious Blackfire.

"Careful with her eyes, she can fire energy beams from them." He warned her. Nightwing was moaning. "Let's get out of here before the police arrive. I don't want to deal with them now. We need to get back to the tower." Gar added. He morphed into a gorilla again and picked up both Nightwing and Blackfire like they were rag dolls and lumbered back to the shuttle. Ahsoka retrieved Blackfire's two severed hands and returned to the shuttle as well. Within a few minutes they were airborne.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ahsoka was confused by what she had just seen. "Garfield, what happened down there? Why did Starfire attack Raven and Nightwing?"

"That's not Starfire. It's her evil sister Blackfire. She disguised herself to look like Star."

"Then where is Starfire?"

"I'm not sure, but I'll bet she's been captured by the Gordanians."

Garfield pulled out his communicator and called Cyborg. After updating him on the situation he suggested that Cy contact Galfore to let him know what had happened. Gar realized that with Tamaran's help that there was chance to rescue Starfire, especially since both Raven and Nightwing were injured. Gar ran to the back to check on Raven. She was no longer in her trance, and was now only asleep. Her face was bruised all over, but was already looking much better. He took her hand and kissed her palm and fingers several times. She opened her eyes and said "It hurts". Gar ran to the med kit and came back with some morphine. He injected her and within a few minutes she was sleeping peacefully.

Before going back to the cockpit he checked on Blackfire. She was still secured and looked far worse than Raven. He didn't care if she had a concussion. He looked at the stumps where he had cut off her hands to save Raven from a certain death.

"She's supposed to be imprisoned on Eridani 4" he said to no one in particular. It was only then that the disastrous situation finally sank in for him: Starfire was missing, almost certainly in Gordanian custody and on her way to the Citadel. Nightwing was almost beaten to death and Raven had also been severely beaten.

Ahsoka sensed his distress. "You did well Garfield. You didn't give in to the Dark Side."

"I wanted to kill her." He said softly "Especially after seeing what she did to Raven."

"But you didn't. Now you understand why the order requires Knights to be celibate. It's very hard to be detached if you have someone you love more than life itself."

"I understand…"

"We are approaching the tower. Prepare for arrival."

The shuttle landed on the tower roof. Cyborg had two gurneys waiting for Nightwing and Raven, and took them immediately to the infirmary. X-rays confirmed that Blackfire had broken Raven's jaw, but it had partially healed during the trance. And while Raven's healing touch had saved Nightwing from certain death he was also in bad shape, including internal organ damage.

Blackfire was quickly checked and was found to be concussion free. Cyborg literally threw her into the highest security cell they had. He planned on interrogating her soon.

Ahsoka retrieved a med droid from the Arrow and had it attend to Nightwing and Raven's care.

It was now 8 PM and Gar realized that he hadn't anything to eat since breakfast. He gently kissed Raven on the lips and left the infirmary to get something to eat. He found Sleedo and Nuvuti in the kitchen, preparing something for him. Nuvuti hugged him and Sleedo handed him a tray with sandwiches and some sodas. He thanked them and headed back to the infirmary with his meal to wait. It was going to be a long night.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

– Pain

Raven slowly woke up. As soon as her eyes could focus she saw Gar sitting in a recliner next to her bed, sound asleep. She turned the other way and saw that Nightwing was not in his bed. She saw a large transparent tank in the rear of the infirmary and vaguely remembered waking up earlier and seeing Nightwing submerged in the tank while the med droid fussed around the tank. _He must have been treated and discharged already. Poor Richard, he must be frantic about Starfire_, she thought sadly.

She noticed that her mouth was sore and explored it with her tongue. _Did I really lose that many teeth? That bitch really does pack a wallop._

She sat up and began to examine her mouth with her fingers. A med droid approached her. "I can replace your lost teeth with prosthetic implants." It buzzed. "I can perform the procedure now if you wish."

"No, thank you, I can regenerate them myself." She quietly replied.

"As you wish mistress. You are now healthy enough to be discharged" It replied as it proceeded to remove her IV".

As soon as she was free of the IV Raven swung her legs around and sat facing Gar. She felt a cool breeze on her backside. _Damn hospital gowns!_ _Oh well, we've all seen each other's butts in the infirmary, except for Cyborg, who doesn't have a real one_ she chuckled in her mind.

She stood up and then gently sat down sideways on Garfield's lap. He stirred and then jolted awake. As soon as he saw who it was sitting on his lap he embraced her and she reciprocated the gesture, followed by several tender kisses on her lips. They held each other for several minutes. Words were not necessary.

Raven interrupted the silence first "Dr. Robot says I'm done here. Would you get me something to wear? I'm not walking back to our apartment wearing a hospital gown."

"I'm a step ahead of you." He handed her a recycled department store bag with fresh undies, socks , a t-shirt, some sweats and a pair of sneakers. Then he drew the curtain around her bed, remaining with her.

"Need any help?" he grinned.

"It's nothing you've never seen before. You perv!" she smirked.

"Hey, it's your fault for being so hot."

She grinned at him, exposing all her missing teeth and her bruised gums.

"Still think I'm hot?"

"Always." he replied.

Raven rolled her eyes and removed the wretched hospital gown while her husband handed her some clean panties.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The common room was a whirlwind. Using a remote console Sleedo and Nuvuti were using the sensors on the Arrow in an attempt to locate any ships that were on a course leading away from Earth. So far they were unsuccessful.

Galfore has arrived earlier from Tamaran with Starfire's brother Ryand'r and a whole phalanx of fierce Tamaranian warriors, who remained outside admiring the Jedi Arrow. Galfore and Ryand'r were briefing Nightwing, Cyborg and the Jedi on the Citadel's military capabilities. From what they were told the Citadel was an enemy to be reckoned with. They seldom dirtied their own hands, instead relying on suck ups like the Gordanians to do their dirty work. But if push came to shove they could hit hard. Ryand'r wasn't sure about how the Arrow would fare against a fleet of Citadel ships.

Nightwing spoke up. "I fear getting Earth involved with this. The planet would be helpless if the Citadel were to launch a retaliatory strike."

"Nightwing's concern is legitimate" Jarvik added.

"Then we launch our attack from Tamaran!" Galfore boomed.

Just then Raven and Gar entered the common room, holding hands, on their way to the kitchen to find something to eat. Galfore turned towards them.

"Greetings, little sorceress! I am pleased to see that you are up and about. I must apologize for Komand'r's actions. Her k'norfka did not raise her well."

Galfore turned to Gar. "You may be small, green one, but your heart is large. You defeated Komand'r in battle, and that is no small feat. You saved both your mate's and my son-in-law's lives with your bold actions."

"Thank you sir." Gar replied.

Nightwing nodded at Gar, who understood his subtle gesture of gratitude. Nightwing then spoke "Now that we are all here, let's interrogate the prisoner."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Starfire awoke. She quickly realized that she was bound, and could not move at all. She was wearing some sort of helmet that covered her eyes and she was fully drained of her powers. She was helpless.

Even though she knew where she was being taken, her first thoughts were of him. _Richard, please be OK. If she has harmed you she will regret it, I swear by X'Hal!_

She felt the tears run down her cheeks, unable to raise a hand to wipe them away.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Blackfire also awoke, but she had no idea where she was. She tried to lift herself up, but her hand slipped and she fell back onto the hard floor. Her head and face hurt, and the floor plant she just had didn't help. She looked for her hand and only saw a stump where it should have been.

_Oh X'Hal, it wasn't a dream!_

She looked at her other hand and saw that it too was only a stump now. Her powers had been drained from her. She could not shoot energy beams from her eyes. Her captors understood Tamaranian physiology well. She was powerless.

_I am finished, ruined. I am no longer a warrior._

She stood up, this time without the aid of her nonexistent hands. Then it dawned on her: she had been captured. She would be returned to Eridani 4 and her sentence would be extended to life for escaping. And now that she was a maimed freak there would be no one willing to help her.

_What have I done? Did I betray my sister for this?_

She fell to her knees, her back to the entrance of her cell.

She wept bitterly. She also did not hear the door open behind her.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Trogaar was furious. After all the trouble he endured to capture the Princess the Citadel told him that they no longer desired her. 'You can keep her' he was told.

And to make matters worse, he had received word that Blackfire had almost been killed by the green changeling. He could forget about stealing the alien vessel.

He had ordered his ship back to the home world. He was returning empty handed with his tail between his legs. The Emperor would not be pleased. He was already angry with him for losing so many ships during the battle near Earth.

All he had was the Princess, who no one seemed to want. He was debating on whether to demand ransom for her, to at least cover his losses. But he doubted that either Galfore or the Titans would be agreeable to that. _Maybe if I threatened to kill her..._

Suddenly his ship lurched and was jolted out of hyperspace. "Status! What's happening?"

"My Lord, our FTL drives have gone off line. We don't know why." an officer responded.

Trogaar looked out the main view port. Both of his hearts froze in fear. A wedge shaped alien ship, much larger than the one they encountered near Earth, was on an intercept course with them.

"Lord Trogaar" another officer screeched "they are hailing us".

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Blackfire turned when she heard voices behind her. She recognized Galfore, Ryand'r and the Titans. She did not recognize the two hooded figures. She rose to her feet and faced Gar.

"Look at what you have done to me!" she screamed as she pointed her two stumps at him. "Why didn't you just kill me instead? Was it your plan to humiliate me like this?"

She fell to her knees, sobbing violently.

Galfore raised his voice "Compose yourself, Komand'r. You are still a princess of Tamaran."

"I was" she replied weakly "now I am nothing. I am beyond redemption." Tears dripped from her cheeks and fell on the floor.

"That is not true" Ahsoka interrupted as she lowered her hood. "You can redeem yourself by helping us rescue your sister."

"I will." She whispered. The she turned to Nightwing "Richard, please forgive me. I just wanted to get out of that prison…"

"If we recover Starfire unharmed, then I will forgive you." The bitterness was evident in his voice.

She turned to Raven. A massive bruise was still visible on her face. Their gazes met, until Blackfire turned away. "I am so sorry."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Trogaar's communication officer was able to establish a visual link with the alien vessel. On the screen two humanoids appeared. One was male, his face hid behind a mask. Trogaar recognized him; he was a criminal from Earth called Deathstroke or Slade. The other was a severe looking female who kept her scalp shaved.

Slade addressed him. "Word has it that you have something we want, Trogaar. The Princess. Hand her over, now!"

"What do we get if we comply?" Troggar asked nervously.

This time the female responded "You and your crew will die a quick death instead of a slow and painful one." she hissed.

Trogaar was beginning to panic. "Surely My Lady we can be of some use to you." He whimpered.

"I doubt it."

Slade interjected. "They might be useful in gathering intelligence on the Tamaranians."

"Tamaranians do not concern me Slade."

_Was she born with that horrid voice?_ Slade wondered.

"They are allies of the Titans and hence of the Jedi. They are fierce, incredibly strong and numerous. Not to mention they are the Princess's own people. And unlike the Gordanians they are not cowards."

"Very well Slade, I will indulge you." She turned to Trogaar. "Do not betray me Gordanian, if you do you will regret ever being born."

"Thank you My Lady. You have our allegiance."

Ventress stepped away from the view screen. Slade addressed Trogaar. "Power down your engines and prepare to be boarded. Have the Princess ready for us at the main docking station."

The visual link was terminated. Trogaar was pondering the course of events. _Just when you think that things can't get any worse..._

Had he been a mammal, he would have let out a deep sigh.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It seems like the only guy who had a good day today was Slade.


	9. Chapter 9

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

-( scene break )-

Chapter 9 – Out of the fire and into the frying pan.

Starfire could sense that something was happening. There was screaming and shouting in the hallway outside her cell. Suddenly she heard the cell door open and heard several sets of footsteps in the cell. She then heard the restraints that secured her to the floor become unlocked.

Several strong hands grab her arms and the lifted her from the floor. Since her other restraints were still in place she could not move any of her limbs or see where she was being taken, so they dragged her. When she attempted to ask what was happening, she was told to remain quiet. She was dragged a long way across the ship until her jailers stopped. She heard someone say 'We wait here.'

She tried to listen for a hint of what was happening, but her captors were as quiet as a grave yard. She then heard what she thought was an airlock become sealed. She then heard a hatch open and heard several other sets of footsteps, these sounding different from the ones that had dragged her here.

"Is this the girl?" a familiar voice asked.

"She is the Princess" a Gordanian voice replied.

She heard someone approach her and felt a ring placed around her neck.

"You can remove her restraints. Her powers are neutralized."

_That voice, it can't be._ She thought.

The last restraint removed was the helmet that obscured her vision. Her suspicions were confirmed.

"Slade!" she hissed "What do you want with me?" She drew her hand back to form a star bolt, but nothing happened.

"Relax Starfire, you powers are neutralized by the ring around your neck".

Starfire tugged at the ring.

"You will find that it's quite impossible to remove." He said with hint of satisfaction.

"What do you want Slade?"

"You should know by now Starfire. What do I always want?"

Starfire saw a bald woman enter the room "You are enjoying this too much Slade, secure the girl in our brig." the woman hissed in her evil voice.

Several men dressed in white armor approached Starfire and escorted her to the brig of Venator class Star Destroyer "Palpatine's Hand".

Starfire was a lot brighter than most people gave her credit. It was obvious to her that Slade was working for this harsh woman, but what quarrel could she have with her or the Titans? She was clearly an alien. Then it struck her._ She wants the Jedi! She must be a Sith._

Starfire realized that she was even in more trouble than she thought. _This is far worse than being a prisoner of the Citadel._

-( scene break )-

The Titans decided to rest before leaving for Tamaran, where an allied fleet was forming to attack the Citadel. This would give Nightwing and Raven some extra time to recover. Galfore and his warriors had already departed for Tamaran to make preparations.

Gar had decided to stay up late with the Jedi. _What am I now? Jedi or Titan?_ He wondered to himself as he and Raven walked back to their apartment. _Is it possible to be both?_

He stayed and meditated with Raven for 30 minutes. While he enjoyed communing with the Force he still preferred Raven's style of meditating when he needed to calm himself. And after what had happened these past few days he was way overdue. Once he was done meditating he kissed her goodnight and headed back to the common room. The Jedi and Cyborg were abuzz running back and forth between consoles.

"What's going on?"

"We just got word from Tamaran that their intelligence network has confirmed that Trogaar kidnapped Starfire, but look at this, the Citadel refused her and sent Trogaar packing." Cyborg explained.

"That sounds like good news to me. We don't have to mess with the Citadel." Gar replied.

"But there's more. Trogaar's ship never arrived back at the Gordanian home world. It vanished."

"No!" Garfield exclaimed.

"I think that the Sith might be behind this disappearance." Jarvik shared.

Ahsoka stood up from her console. "Are you sure? I haven't felt any tremors in the Force."

"I have. It's very subtle, trying to hide from us. But I have felt it."

Gar had felt nothing as well, and decided to take Jarvik at his word. "So what do we do now?"

Cyborg pondered for a moment "We need to tell Nightwing. We can let Raven rest for now." He then left for Nightwing's room to break the news to him.

Gar stared silently at the ops console, then spoke up "I suppose this means we won't have to find them. They will come to us."

Jarvik nodded in agreement.

"Do you think they have Star with them? Why would they? They couldn't possibly know who she is, could they?"

"Perhaps they made an alliance with the Gordanians?" Sleedo offered.

"No." Jarvik interrupted. "Someone from this dimension went back to Republic to inform them of our presence here."

"But who?" Ahsoka asked.

"I know who it was." A voice called from the entrance to the common room.

Everyone turned around to the entrance.

"It was Slade" Raven announced.

-( scene break )-

After surrendering his prisoner Trogaar was instructed to proceed to the Centauri system and watch Earth from a distance. Once the Gordanian ship had pulled away from the Hand's docking bay it was pelted with Turbo Laser fire from the Star Destroyer. It was destroyed immediately and all hands were lost.

"See, I told you they would cooperate if they thought they would be spared." Slade told Ventress.

"I see now why the Emperor is so fond of you Slade. But remember your place. You are the outsider on this ship."

Slade recalled his betrayal by Trigon. He would be more careful this time.

"Yes My Lady. I will remember my place."

_Terra is right; these people are scary beyond reason. I'd better go check on her._

-( scene break )-

"Slade? Are you certain of this? How can you be sure?" Jarvik asked.

Garfield knew, and he realized right there what Raven was about to say. He also realized that Nightwing and Cyborg had already returned and heard what Raven had said.

"Raven, are you sure you want to share this?" He asked her.

"I must, there is no other way."

"Please continue." Jarvik was wondering what she would say.

"After destroying Azarath Trigon invaded this dimension, with Slade's help. Trigon shared many of his powers with Slade. He used him to scout other dimensions to invade while he prepared to invade this dimension."

"How do you know this? We know that once Trigon was destroyed by his daughter that his secrets died with him. How could you possibly know this?" Jarvik asked incredulously.

Ahsoka gasped "Raven, you are Trigon's daughter, aren't you?"

Raven nodded her head somberly; her face showed the pain she felt inside. Gar moved next to her, took her hand and held it tightly.

"Do any of you have a problem with that?" he snarled.

Jarvik shook his head. "Not at all. Raven is an anonymous hero across many dimensions, including ours, at least amongst those of us who were aware of Trigon's threat".

"You have no idea how many people you saved."

Raven felt the weight of the world was lifted from her shoulders. She turned to Gar and hugged him, weeping tears of relief.

-( scene break )-

– Uncertainty.

The Titans and the Jedi huddled in the common room, trying their best to assess the situation.

"So what are we up against?" Nightwing asked Jarvik.

"Inter-dimensional travel was still a challenge for the Republic when we departed, still at the experimental stage. I am guessing that we are facing a single Star Destroyer, either Victory or Venator class." He replied.

"What's the difference between the two?" Cyborg asked.

"Venators are more flexible, they adapt more easily to a variety of tasks. Before the fall there were rumors that Sienar System were adapting a Venator with dimension jump drives. It's almost certain that they came on that ship."

"How does a Venator compare to your ship?" Garfield asked, still holding Raven in his arms.

"There's no comparison, it's superior to our ship in every way." Ahsoka shared. "Remember, the Arrow is a modified corvette. We could never engage them directly and win."

"So what do we do then?" Raven asked.

After some deliberation Jarvik spoke "We need to lead them away from Earth. A single Venator could easily destroy all life on Earth."

"So we just cut and run? Won't they catch us eventually?" Nightwing asked.

"Eventually they would." Ahasoka sighed.

"Cy, any reports out there that might help?" Nightwing asked.

"Galfore says that there is a report of an alien ship orbiting Rigel 7, but there are no details beyond that."

"That's 800 light years away, they could be here within hours. We need to get out of here. And the sooner the better. We need a place to hide to buy is time to come up with a plan."

"Another report." Cyborg interrupted. "Remember Val-Yor?"

"The silver bigot? Who could forget him?" Val-Yor's hateful words towards Starfire still burned in Raven's memory. "What's he doing?"

"Apparently he and some of his team mates engaged the alien ship. All but one of them perished in the attack, including Val-Yor. There are some images attached to the report. Apparently they have been laying waste to systems on their way here." The images appeared on the main view screen.

"Well, that's a Venator alright." Ahsoka sighed once again.

"Ahsoka is familiar with this class of ship, as she served on them during the Clone War."

"So it's full of those clone troopers you told us about before?" Gar asked.

"Most likely" Jarvik responded. "I do not wish to be rude but we are wasting time. We must depart immediately. The ship is fully supplied so I suggest that you quickly gather any personal belongings you might need. There is no telling when we will be able to return."

"But where are we going? We still need to find a place to hide." Gar reminded everyone.

"I think I can help with that." A timid voice offered. It was Blackfire. "It's a place they would have to be crazy to go into. The Draconis nebula. I know my way around in there and how to avoid the black holes."

"Sounds like the Kessel Run." Nuvuti said.

"Very well, let's meet in 10 minutes. Ahsoka and I will begin the pre-launch sequence."

-( scene break )-

"Is this the best your dimension has to offer Slade?" Ventress growled with satisfaction as the sole surviving alien ship broke off its attack and escaped into hyperspace.

"No, there are others who are more powerful. But none pose a threat to us, and they know it. The wise will stay out of our way."

"What of the Tamaranians?"

"They do not lie along our path to Earth. I expect to encounter them once we engage the Titans and the Jedi on Earth."

"Good, it will save us the nuisance of seeking them out." She grinned. "We will be in Earth orbit in 3 hours. Be ready Slade."

Slade excused himself, returned to his quarters and had a conversation with Terra."

-( scene break )-

Starfire sat glumly on the bunk in her tiny, depressing cell. She could not help but wonder what was happening to her friends back home. She was also in a foul mood. She hadn't had a bath or change of clothes since she was captured by her sister. She had lost track of how long ago that was. She realized that despair was beginning to set in. She had faith in her teammates, but this was perhaps this greatest challenge they had faced since Trigon. She remembered how Richard had stressed back then to never lose hope. She resolved to not give into despair. She also remembered Nightwing's words from her journey into the future: "…we've done the impossible before…" She smiled. The Sith didn't know the Titans.

Suddenly her cell door hissed open. Terra walked in with two Clone Troopers.

"Terra" she snarled. "What do you want traitor?"

Terra struck her in the face. Starfire fell back hitting the wall, then fell to the ground.

"Leave us" she said with a wicked grin. The clones stepped out of the cell and sealed the door.

Terra then knelt down to get closer to the still dazed Starfire. "Sorry about that, but I have to keep up appearances."

Starfire gazed at her dumbfounded.

"Tell me where they are!" Terra screamed.

In a whisper she said "These people are insane Starfire, we fear they will destroy Earth."

"Tell me, unless you want another beating." She screamed again.

"I know we are enemies, but we can't let them destroy our home. Scream as if I hit you." again in a hushed tone.

Starfire figured she had nothing to lose by playing along. She let out a blood curdling scream.

"Not bad. So do you fake it with Nightwing too?"

She received an icy glare from Starfire in response.

"Sorry, force of habit." She paused. "Here, this key will unlock that collar. I don't know when the right time to use this will be. I'll let you know when we get to Earth."

"Is Nightwing unharmed?" Starfire stammered.

"As far as we know he is. They all are if the Tamaranian intelligence reports we intercepted are correct. But only for now. Slade and I trying to come up with a plan, but we don't have anything yet. Our first priority is to keep Ventress from wiping out Earth if the Titans and the Jedi are gone, which we think is certain."

Terra rose. "You will talk next time. I will bring an interrogation droid and I promise you it won't be pleasant" she shouted. She then tapped on the door. It opened and she exited.

Starfire rose and sat down again on her bunk, assessing what had just happened. Was Terra up to something or was she sincere?

_I will try the key._

It worked, the ring unlocked. She disabled it and snapped it back on again and hid the key in a private part of her body.

She pondered her next move. She was completely in the dark, still not knowing if she could trust Terra or not. Slade did have a track record of putting Earth first. _When it served him_ she reminded herself.

She could try to escape now that she had access to her powers, but realized that in her weakened state she would probably fail. She had no choice but to wait for Slade and Terra's next move.

-( scene break )-

Nightwing had informed Batman over a secure land line of what was happening as asked him to instruct the Justice League on what might happen if the Imperial ship arrived to find they had flown the coop. Green Lantern reinforcements were already on their way to Earth. No doubt Slade had briefed the invaders on all the Justice Leaguers weaknesses. They would be ready even for Superman. Hopefully it would not come to that.

The Jedi Arrow was readying for takeoff, with Ahsoka at the controls. Under Skywalker's watch she had become one of the finest pilots in the Jedi Order. They were all seated in the Arrow's ample bridge. While all the Titans were apprehensive, Raven was more so. She did not care for space flight, especially since the run in with the screaming monster at the space station. She recalled getting sick and swallowing her own vomit to keep her compartment in the T-Ship from becoming a foul zero G mess.

The Arrow lifted off quickly but smoothly, going into a deep and fast climb out of Earth's atmosphere. As soon as they cleared the moon's orbit Ahsoka pulled on the hyper drive lever, at which point the Nav computer took over. Within minutes they dropped out of hyperspace into the outer regions of the Draconis nebula. Together with Blackfire and using the Force as a secondary guide she guided the ship into the hiding spot in the nebula, where they would be shrouded by several black holes. They were safe for now.

"It's been a long day for everyone, let's get some rest" Nightwing said.

"Nuvuti, Sleedo show everyone to their quarters. Give Raven and Garfield the Ambassador's room. I will take the first watch." Jarvik ordered. As the Titans departed for some well needed rest, Ahsoka approached Jarvik.

"Master, forgive me for doubting you."

"It's alright. It was the responsible thing to do after all. Of course that's why you trained Garfield behind my back, right?"

"Yes, I am sorry." She replied.

"Actually it's a good thing you did. We will need every Jedi we can get to defeat the enemy."

"Do you have a plan?"

"As a matter of fact I do." He smiled.

-( scene break )-

After dropping their bags on the floor Gar let himself fall onto the bed, back first, so that he faced the ceiling. Raven brushed her teeth at the small sink in the room.

"Did you regenerate your teeth yet?"

"No" she said as she rinsed her mouth. "I thought you said that missing teeth made me look hot."

"It does" he laughed. He then lunged and grabbed her, pulling her onto the bed.

At that moment Sleedo and Nuvuti walked past their quarters and heard giggles and other muffled sounds emerge from the couple's room. They stopped, rolled their eyes, and resumed walking.

"They don't sound tired to me." Nuvuti whispered to Sleedo.

"Why does everyone have fun but us? Sleedo replied.

"Is that a veiled marriage proposal?" She teased him.

"Could be, what you say?" he teased back.

"Not even if you were the only Rodian in the galaxy. Oh wait, you are!" she laughed.

Sleedo elbowed her and they both giggled as they walked to their quarters at the end of the hall. 

-( scene break )-

Ok, I'm not sure if Rodians can roll their eyes.

It sounds like Slade and Terra might be having second thoughts.

What will Ventress do to Earth?

Stay tuned, and please review.


	10. Chapter 10

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

-( scene break )-

Chapter 10 – Encounter Earth.

Tap, tap, tap…

Raven woke up to sound of something rapping on metal.

Tap, tap, tap…

She woke up slowly, which was unusual for her.

Tap, tap, tap.

"Raven, Garfield, are you awake?" It was Nuvuti knocking on their door.

"Just a minute." Raven responded.

Gar was lying behind her, two spoons in drawer style, his now beefy arms wrapped around her. He was sound asleep, snoring placidly. She gently wiggled free from his embrace and got out of the bed. Quietly she stepped over to her duffel bags that were still lying where Gar had tossed them the night before. She opened one and rummaged through it until she found the silk Japanese robe he gave her on their honeymoon. She put it on, covering her naked body, walked to the door, unlocked it and opened it.

"Please forgive me for interrupting your sleep Raven." Nuvuti said with a hint of embarrassment. "It is before the agreed upon time. But we have received news from Earth. Jarvik wants us all to meet in the conference room as soon as possible. I have to wake the others now." She stepped away and then stopped. "There will be something for breakfast. And I think your robe is very pretty." she smiled.

"Thanks, we'll be there right away." Raven replied as she closed the door.

She walked to the bed and kissed Gar on the cheek. "Wake up lover boy, there's news from home." She spoke gently into his ear.

Gar stirred and opened his eyes. "What time is it?" he moaned.

"It's far too early. Jarvik will share the news with everyone in the conference room. I call dibs on the shower." Raven said.

"I'm hungry." Gar complained.

"Nuvuti said there would be breakfast."

"I hope it's better than what they serve at Chez Tamaran" he replied.

Raven gave him 'the look'.

"Yeah, it was a bad joke. Sorry." Both were thinking of their dear friend Starfire, who was in the enemy's clutches as Gar joked about Tamaranian food.

"They always ate our food with no complaints. We should return the favor." She stepped into the shower. _I hope I can figure out how to operate this thing._

"I hope they have something vegetarian…" He replied.

-( scene break )-

As the Star Destroyer dropped out of hyperspace into orbit above Earth, what Slade and Terra expected to see was in place. A Tamaranian fleet formed a ring around Earth's equator. They discerned the figures of the 3 Kryptonians (Superman, Boy and Girl) on an intercept course with the ship. He also saw Captain Marvel and his sidekick Captain Marvel Junior, as well as a few other Justice League types who can survive in outer space. They also saw the feeble Earth space fleet approaching them.

But they also saw a few things that they were not expecting. What appeared to be the full Centauri fleet appeared to be present, as well as some ships that were unknown to him, but which like the Centaurians did not appear to have enough teeth to be a threat to 'Palpatine's Hand'.

What did take Slade's breath away was what appeared to be hundreds if not thousands of Green Laterns, from many different species.

"Where did they all come from?" Terra asked. I thought that there were only a few in the Milky Way.

"What is this Slade? I don't like surprises." Ventress snarled.

"They called for reinforcements. It appears that they have arrived from outside this galaxy. This is most unexpected." Slade said in his thoughtful monotone.

He turned to Ventress. "It appears that our reputation got ahead of us. We should fall back and re-assess our strategy and tactics. The Green Lantern Corps is a force to be reckoned with. "

"You give those costumed freaks too much credit, Slade."

"I think caution is reasonable." Slade replied.

"Get off my bridge Slade. I will deal with you later." Ventress growled "Let's see them save Earth from our bombardment with their stupid rings."

Slade and Terra stealthily left the Hand's bridge. "You know what to do." he told her. She nodded and headed off to ships brig, while Slade headed off to the docking bay.

"Commander, you may begin bombing Earth at your discretion. Target the largest population centers first."

"With pleasure", the Imperial officer replied.

-( scene break )-

Terra's heart was hammering in her chest as she ran to the detention area. Ventress wasn't going to back down against obliterating Earth, even though there was no sign of the Jedi or the Titans. Slade was right, she is insane. And all those Green Lanterns! They had to get out of there before everything went to Hell in a hand basket.

As she reached the detention center she saw no guards present, but she still gripped her blaster tightly. She could hear that the battle had begun and Earth's defenders were hitting the ship with everything they had. She reached Starfire's cell and hit the open button. It didn't open. _Damn! They locked it before they left for their battle stations._ She aimed her blaster at the control panel at the guard station, which was still deserted. Upon firing and destroying the panel all the cell doors popped open and Starfire emerged from her cell. Alarms were now blaring.

"Star, the battle has begun; we need to get out of here! Can you throw star bolts?" Terra shouted as the ship's hull resonated under the allied fire.

Starfire ripped the now defunct power suppressing collar from her neck. "Yes, and more" she replied. I am ready to kick ass!"

_About time she learned to speak English correctly_. "Forget that, we need to get off this ship ASAP."

Starfire quickly realized that it was Terra who needed to get off the ship, and that probably meant Slade too. She was insurance. Extra firepower to escape, nothing else. But heck, she wasn't about to stay in her detention cell as Ventress' guest. _It's time to blow this Popsicle stand!_

"Lead the way." The princess yelled.

-( scene break )-

Slade encountered more resistance on the way to the docking bay. Apparently every clone trooper had been ordered to shoot him on sight. It almost made him miss his fights with the Titans. _At least they never tried to kill me._

Finally he reached the hangar bay and there were dozens of Clone Troopers guarding the ships docked there, including Slade's silver Nubian ship. He retreated to a safe distance and waited. With Starfire's help he should be able take the troopers out quickly. He then heard the familiar sound of her star bolts, a sound he never thought he would be glad to hear, but was ecstatic to hear now. He called out to them and they were soon together.

He quickly shared his plan and they sprung into action. Starfire flew through the bay's main entrance; star bolts and eye beams ablaze. Terra and Slade entered via the secondary entrance, ambushing any troopers that Starfire might have missed.

They followed Slade onto the Nubian ship. Slade quickly prepared the ship for launch and they were soon away from the destroyer. Their escape has not gone unnoticed and Ventress ordered all batteries to focus on the fleeing ship.

Slade did his best to avoid the turbo laser salvos, but he couldn't avoid them all. Soon the Nubian's deflector shields were gone. Slade and Terra were wearing pressure suits, but given the fire power being thrown at them it was questionable what kind of protection they would afford them.

Slade deftly dodged the shots as he put distance between the two ships, but his luck eventually ran out. A well placed shot tore a rip in the Nubian's hull. Starfire heard the explosive decompression and decided that it was time to bail out. She flew out through a rip in the hull just as a second salvo hit the disabled ship followed by a massive explosion.

Starfire blacked out.

-( scene break )-

"So Slade and Terra are with them" Nightwing inquired.

"Yes, we left a few probe droids on the edge of the nebula. They received and are still receiving Tamaranian dispatches from Earth.

"Over 800 Green Lanterns were waiting for them? Booyah!" Cyborg shouted.

"Yes, and they were able to almost completely block the bombardment. 5 missiles did slip past them unfortunately. 3 fell into the oceans, but two did hit their targets. One destroyed Monterrey, Mexico and the other hit Lagos, Nigeria. The imperials then sent their fighters against the Green Lanterns. According to the latest report half of the imperial fighters were destroyed and the Star Destroyer, the "Palpatine's Hand" suffered minor damage before retreating." Ahsoka reported.

The conference room erupted into raucous cheering and celebrating upon hearing the news.

"Unfortunately there were casualties on our side, many casualties" She added "The Green Lantern Corp lost 47 members, The Tamaranians and Centaurians lost about half of their fleets. And Earth's fleet was completely destroyed."

The celebration ended as quickly as it had started.

"There is more." She continued. "This dispatch just arrived. A Nubian vessel attempted to flee the Hand, but was destroyed by turbo laser fire. Its three occupants were rescued by Green Lanterns and the Kryptonian called Kal-El, the latter who endured point blank turbo laser fire to complete the rescue. Two were humans, who were severely injured and the other was a Tamaranian, who is reported in good health. The Kryptonian was injured and is reported to be recovering."

Nightwing leaped to his feet. "Starfire! They rescued Starfire!" he shouted. The other Titans were on their feet as well, high fiving and hugging each other.

"Let's not celebrate prematurely. That has yet to be confirmed" Jarvik lectured the room.

After a pause Gar said "Those turbo lasers must pack a wallop if they injured Superman."

"Let's be thankful that they only have one Star Destroyer. If they had an entire fleet I don't know what we would do." Cyborg added.

"And it's up to us to keep it that way." Jarvik announced. "We cannot let that ship return home."

-( scene break )-

Starfire woke up with a splitting headache. As she opened her eyes and took in her surroundings she realized that she was in the bed and the apartment she shared with her husband Nightwing. Galfore and Ryand'r were at her side, as were BumbleBee and the rest of the Titans East team. She looked around the room, still in a bit of a daze looking for Nightwing and the other Titans.

"They are not here. They left with the Jedi hoping to draw the invaders away from Earth. We do not know of their whereabouts at this time." Galfore spoke.

Starfire rose from her bed and hugged her knorfka and then her brother, followed by the Titans East.

"Starfire, what happened up there?" Speedy asked.

"Believe it or not, Slade and Terra freed me and we attempted to escape on Slade's ship. We were quickly hit by their fire and lost control of the ship. At that point I lost consciousness. We were not victorious." She dropped her head.

"How are Slade and Terra?" she asked in follow up.

"They suffered severe burns, but they will survive. Terra has been disfigured however. Perhaps in time with some skin grafts…" BumbleBee answered.

-( scene break )-

"So how are we supposed to destroy a ship that 800 Green Lanterns couldn't take down?" Cyborg asked.

"We will find a way." Ahsoka answered.

"Do we even know who or what is inside that ship?" Raven asked.

Jarvik paused, staring at his console.

"More news" Jarvik shared. "Asajj Ventress is onboard the destroyer."

"Ventress?" Ahsoka choked.

"Is Ventress a Sith?" Gar asked.

"No, but she comes awfully close" Ahsoka responded. "Technically she is a Dark Jedi, and I'll bet she brought some Dark Jedi apprentices along for the ride. I've had my share of personal encounters with her Gar, and she's bad news."

"Great, this day can't get any worse." Raven moaned.

"Oh it can Raven, it can." Jarvik replied. "I need you to teleport all of us onto the destroyer."

Raven mouth dropped. "That's suicide! We can't succeed."

"There is no other way." Jarvik replied somberly. He glanced at his console and announced "There is some good news. The three rescued near Earth were Starfire, Slade and Terra. Starfire is in perfect health is resting at the tower. "

"I knew it was her!" An ecstatic Nightwing howled.

"She survived. Thanks be to X'Hal." Blackfire snapped out of her gloominess. She now had prosthetic hands courtesy of one of the ships med droids. They looked life like, but Blackfire knew that she would never be able to conjure another star bolt ever again.

-( scene break )-

Master Yoda stared at the holographic image of Bail Organa, who was informing him of the trans-dimensional expedition being led by Ventress. "Seeking Master Katarra, she is" Yoda commented to Senator Organa. "Help him we must."

"But how can we, Master Yoda? I have no battleship at my disposal and even if I did, how could we jump dimensions? Only Sienar has that technology." Organa replied.

"Four tasks I have for you. First, the destination of Ventess ship we must find. Use the Bothan Spy Net. Second, 400 of the finest Alderanean space warriors you must assemble, their loyalty to the Republic unquestioned. Third, a ship send to collect me on Dagobah and finally fourth meet me at these coordinates with your crew."

"But that's in the Wild Space. That section of the galaxy makes the outer rim look civilized."

"There find we will that which we need." Yoda replied.

-( scene break )-

– A brief reprieve

Ventress was fuming. Her ship, the Palpatine's Hand was partially crippled, as its trans dimensional drives had been damaged. To make matters worse, the 5 crew members who could repair it died during Slade's escape, as all were assigned to guard duty at the docking bay when Slade and his minions attacked. She personally executed her XO for such a blunder. They were marooned in this dimension, at least until someone came searching for them.

If anyone ever came at all.

And to add insult to injury, Slade, his treacherous wife and the Tamaranian escaped and were rescued from certain death from those spandex clad do gooders.

For now she was forced to hide in a nebula, eavesdropping on any communications that they could intercept, which wasn't hard. Local encryption was a joke. Even a surplus protocol droid could break the codes with two processors tied behind its back.

As soon as she found out where the Jedi were hiding, she would destroy them, even if it was the last thing she did. She would complete her mission.

-( scene break )-

The smuggler's ship was pulling away from the Tantive IV as Yoda and Bail Organa walked to the bridge.

"I have the dimension coordinates that Ventress jumped to with her Star Destroyer. It's a Venator, armed to the teeth."

"Good, track her down we will, and rescue my fellow Jedi." Yoda said with his jester like laugh.

"Aren't we missing something?" Organa replied.

Yoda turned to the Tantive's skipper. "Captain, to these coordinates take us." Yoda handed Captain Antilles a data pad. Antilles glanced at Senator Organa, who nodded.

"Lieutenant, plot a course in the nav computer using these coordinates." Antilles commanded.

Yoda made himself comfortable for the short trip. The Tantive was in hyper space for only a few minutes, and then dropped out in the middle of a huge interstellar asteroid field. It was very dark as the nearest star was 20 light years away.

Yoda took the controls of the Tantive and gently guided it through the field and after a few minutes he ordered the forward flood lights turned on. Organa gasped as his breath was nearly taken away.

"Dreadnoughts!" he exclaimed.

-( scene break )-

Nightwing and Jarvik had gone off to meet in private, while everyone else had breakfast. Garfield looked especially glum.

"We never should have left earth. We ditched them when they needed us."

"We were trying to draw the Imperials away from Earth. It didn't work. We aren't infallible Gar. Sometimes we make mistakes." Raven reminded him.

"What if they attack another world? We might not be so lucky next time." Gar replied. "We have to get onboard that ship. Jarvik is right."

Raven gave him an angry glare. "So you can get killed? You think just because you look cool with a light saber that you will succeed? You heard what Ahsoka said, she probably has a legion of Dark Jedi with her."

"Slade said that he didn't see any other Dark Jedi. She might be so arrogant as to believe she didn't need to bring any help."

"He also didn't have full run of the ship, by his own admission. They might be there." She was getting angry with her husband.

"I'm going Rae. It has to be done. If she gets away and brings reinforcements we're finished."

"Then I'm coming too, and I'm not letting you out of my sight." Raven had been very protective of Gar for quite some time.

"We make the best team Rae, we'll kick some dark side butt together!"

"Don't get cocky Gar. This is going to be our most dangerous mission ever. You know I want to have children someday. That'll be hard to do if we get killed." Gar could see the worry in her face.

"She's right B. I'm scared out of my mind. You should be too. Don't let that Jedi crap go to your head man. I already called dibs on being your first kid's Godparent, and I intend to collect on that."

"Thanks for siding with reason Cyborg" Raven agreed.

"So you're both coming to babysit me?"

"We're going to do what we have to do." Cy added "But that doesn't mean we're going to be stupid about it."

"Dudes! Give me some credit!"

They all fell silent, until Gar piped up. "You know, their food isn't all that bad."

Suddenly, Nightwing and Jarvik entered the room. Nightwing announced: "We're heading back to Earth."

-( scene break )-

Bail Organa stared in disbelief at the two dreadnoughts floating in front of the Tantive IV. The legendary vessels were believed to have been all destroyed many centuries ago.

"These two equipped with dimensional drives are" Yoda chuckled.

"How did you know of these ships?" Organa shook his head, still not believing what he eyes told him were there.

"Many centuries ago, when a young knight, assigned to an expedition I was. Visited other dimensions we did. Empty most were, but one with life we found."

"You did? What was it like?"

"A floating city it was. Its name was Azarath".

"Where the refugee's came from?"

"Yes"

"Are these dreadnaughts combat ready?"

"Ready for duty they were left. Only crews are needed. A few days for preparation are required"

"What are we waiting for?"

-( scene break )-

Starfire watched as the Jedi Arrow descend gracefully towards the Tower. As it alighted she flew towards it, anxiously waiting for its loading ramp to lower. The first to emerge from the ship was Nightwing. They kiss and embraced, tears streaming from their eyes. The rest of the Titans descended next, beaming at the sight of their two friends finally reunited.

The last passenger to disembark was Blackfire. Starfire saw her and released her husband from her embrace and walked up to her sister.

"Blackfire."

"Sister." She lowered her eyes. "Forgive me."

Starfire took her right hand and examined it "It looks so real…"

"It doesn't feel real" she replied.

"I'm sure Garfield is sorry he did this to you"

"I deserved worse" she turned away, embarrassed to face her sister. "You are the good one, sister."

"Come with me, we have much to talk about." Starfire offered her hand. Blackfire accepted it and the two flew to the tower roof. The other Titans watched with confused looks on their faces.

"She ditched me! And for Blackfire?" Nightwing complained.

Raven placed a hand on his shoulder. "Stop fretting lover boy, she'll be all yours soon enough. She just realized that she has a sister again. Give her some time. Trust me, you won't be able to keep her off you tonight, if she can wait that long. Just try to keep it down though. Some people are planning on sleeping tonight." She grinned.

"You're one to talk. We could all hear you and Gar going like wild weasels every night on the Arrow." Nightwing retorted.

Raven's eyes became as big as saucers. Gar to his credit kept a straight face.

"What!" she said as her eyes turned solid black. Gar gave him a look that conveyed a simple message: 'That was stupid.'

-( scene break )-

OK, so I lied. I'm adding Yoda to the story.

Reviews, por favor.

And thanks for reading.


	11. Chapter 11

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

-( scene break )-

Chapter 11 – Here they come (again)

"Rae, relax, it's not his fault!" Gar had drawn her to him in a light embrace. He could literally feel the dark energy crackling through his own body. "Besides, he's probably exaggerating."

Raven cooled off and her eyes returned to their normal amethyst color, which he so loved.

"Never mind" she mumbled while Gar mouthed 'you owe me big' to Nightwing.

"Whatever a 'wild weasel' sounds like, I can assure you I heard no such thing." Jarvik interrupted. He continued "We have more serious matters to discuss, however".

The group entered the Tower and proceeded to the common room. Gar flew to the roof to summon the Princesses to the meeting.

-( scene break )-

Once Gar returned with Starfire and Blackfire Jarvik addressed the group. "There is no doubt that Ventress is aware that we have returned. Since there are no reports of any wormholes opening we know that she is still in this dimension."

"We made sure that there were several easy to crack dispatches that told of our return" Nightwing added. "She knows that we are here, now we just need to convince her to try again."

"Will she really come here again after getting her butt kicked?" Asked Gar, why not just go home and come back with a dozen of those monster ships?"

"That has troubled us Gar" this time it was Ahsoka "We know they have not left, but not why. Is she setting a trap for us? Or maybe the damage they suffered is keeping them here."

"These Dark Side types make Slade look like Forrest Gump." Raven shared dryly "I thought you Jedi were scary at first, but these guys are even scarier. Now I understand why Trigon wanted to form an alliance with the Sith."

"That is assuming that Slade is telling the truth." Starfire intoned.

"Yeah, there's always that issue." Nightwing agreed.

"They are watching us, of that we have no doubt. This time we will draw them after us."

"And then what, get shot out of the sky?" Cyborg asked.

"Exactly." Jarvik replied "But not until we teleport aboard their ship."

Everyone turned to Raven.

"Raven's powers won't be detected by any sensors aboard the Hand. We'll have the droids continue a suicide mission, ultimately ramming the Hand with the Arrow."

"And what do we do once we are on board? Raven asked, not liking where this was going. "Ahsoka, how large a crew should that ship have?"

"7,400, give or take a few hundred." she answered.

And the 10 of us are going to take them on how?" Cyborg asked wide eyed.

"We could ask other Titans and Justice Leaguers to join us." Gar added.

"We have already asked the Green Lantern Corps. They volunteered 100 Green Lanterns. Batman and the new Robin have also volunteered to help." Nightwing added. "Everyone else will stay behind to defend Earth in case Ventress goes off the deep end."

"Our objective will be to sabotage the ship's reactor. We will be cutting it close, and will have to get off the ship quickly once the chain reaction begins." Ahsoka said.

"Make sure you have a Green Lantern nearby when that happens. They can get you safely off the ship and protect you from the vacuum and cold of space" Nightwing added. He turned to Raven "So are you on board with us Raven?"

They all knew that she was worried about Gar. She didn't think he was a weakling that needed protection. Far from it, he was an advanced Padawan now, almost a Knight. But she was afraid of losing him. No, she was terrified of losing him. She couldn't imagine life without him. During their engagement they often discussed hanging up the spandex and just becoming an ordinary couple (OK, an ordinary green and grey couple with super powers). She fantasized about becoming an author and Gar being a veterinarian, and having the proverbial 2.8 children while living in a sprawling ranch in the countryside. At times like this, she felt that fantasy could never be.

"OK I'm in, but if something happens to…."

"Rae, you're embarrassing me!"

"Shut up Gar. I'm sticking to you like glue. Understand?"

"She's got you whipped green bean." Cy chuckled, making a whip gesture with his hand. Raven glared at him.

"Whipped?" she growled "I'll show you what 'whipped' is tin man!"

"Drop it Cy. Maybe if you were married you'd understand." Gar snapped at his best friend. He moved closer to Raven and grasped her hand tightly.

After an awkward pause Nightwing continued "Right, now that has been settled Ahsoka is going to go over the layout of a Venator class ship."

-( scene break )-

Ventress and her new XO, a Clone officer, had been strategizing on the best way to ambush the Jedi. They had ruled out a second assault on Earth and instead decided to wait for the Jedi to leave the relative safety of Earth and the hundreds of Green Lanterns who were still stationed there.

The field intelligence unit on the ship was working overtime decoding and processing every message that they intercepted.

Finally, they got the break they were hoping for. A strongly encrypted message said that the Jedi Arrow was going to rendezvous the penal colony on Eridani 4, where they would drop off the Tamaranian known as Komand'r to complete her prison sentence, then proceed to Tamaran to deliver the Titans and the Jedi to attend the wedding of the Crown Prince Ryand'r. There had been other dispatches during the week confirming the upcoming wedding. It sounded legitimate.

"Commander, we will intercept the Jedi Arrow as it exits hyperspace above Eridani 4. I want no mistakes this time commander." Her voice was as cold as deep space itself.

"We will be victorious My Lady. The Jedi scum will not escape." He replied.

"I hope so for your sake commander. Keep in mind that there are over 7000 replacements for you." she threatened him.

The clone turned away from her and plotted a course to Eridani 4.

Ventress left him and walked to her private section of the ship, where her quarters were located. Once she was passed the guarded entrance she proceeded to the training room. As she entered the room she saw several of her apprentices engaged in light saber dueling. They stopped as soon as she entered the room, turned towards her and bowed.

"I have new instructions for you."

"Yes mistress", the lead apprentice replied.

"Jarvik has taken on an apprentice. He is a changeling, much more gifted than the Clawdites. I wish to capture him and present him to the Emperor as a gift"_. Assuming we ever get home_ she thought. He is young and inexperienced and should be easy to capture." she said while inserting data card into a console. An image of Garfield and Raven appeared on the screen.

"The green one is the Padawan. The grey one is his mate and is a half demoness. Do not underestimate her, as according to Slade's information she is Trigon's daughter". At this the dark apprentices opened their eyes very wide. "She will protect her mate fiercely, so I recommend eliminating her first….if you can."

She flicked a switch and the image switched to Nightwing. "He is an ordinary human but again do not underestimate him." She flipped another switch and there was a video of Nightwing in combat against a platoon of Sladebots, easily destroying them. "He reminds me of the old Mandalorians, so beware."

Next up was Cyborg. "This individual is full of primitive cybernetic and mechanical implants, but he is cunning and brave. He can convert his arms into sonic canons and has the ability to fly.

Finally it was Starfire and Blackfire's turn. "These two are Tamaranians. The red head used to be in our custody until Slade freed her. The other is her sister. The red head is married to the masked freak I showed you earlier and she too is highly protective of him. The Tamaranians possess super human strength. They can survive in a vacuum. They can also launch energy blasts from their hands (she did not know of Blackfire's condition) and energy beams from their eyes. They can also fly so do not underestimate them.

"Mistress, are we to capture the other Jedi as well?" the lead apprentice asked.

"No, you have my permission to destroy them. But do not harm the changeling. Retreat from him if you must. I will capture him myself."

"And what if he resists?

"Then I will be forced to destroy him myself." She replied.

-( scene break )-

The Titans knew that the trap had to set carefully or Ventress might not fall for it. Since it took a few days to convincingly fake Ryand'r's wedding, they had some time to prepare for the mission.

Jarvik and Ahsoka took turns teaching the Titans and their allies on how to defend themselves from Force attacks. Unfortunately only Raven and the Green Lanterns were able to fend off some of the simpler attacks. The rest of the Titans as well as Batman and Robin failed miserably.

Most impressive was the training that Gar received to defend himself from 'Force Lightning' as Jarvik insisted on calling it. He quickly learned to absorb the lightning with his light saber. He wasn't as successful with his bare hands, even though Jarvik claimed that had there been more time for training he would have had some success. It wasn't easy for Raven to watch, as poor Gar often got zapped by the lightning, sometimes it was pretty bad.

"Can I try?" She asked Jarvik, in part to buy Gar a break.

"Are you sure you want to Raven?" Ahsoka asked. "It's a horrible experience."

"Better now than at the hand of a Dark Jedi." She replied.

"Very well." Jarvik replied. "I'll start off easy and work our way up."

Gar found a place to sit in the bleachers and watch. He was very worried about this. "Don't get carried away Raven, I don't want you to get hurt." He shouted.

"I'm not some frail little girl Gar, stop worrying".

"Oh, so it's OK for you worry about me, but not the other way around?" he complained.

"Shut up, you big baby".

Gar frowned, then sat back down.

Raven turned to Jarvik and went into her fighting stance, while she conjured a large black shield in front of her. "I'm ready".

Jarvik extended his hand and the lighting leaped from it and was absorbed into the shield. Raven winced in pain. Jarvik stopped.

"Are you OK?" he asked.

"I'm fine, let's kick this up a few notches. Use the same level you used with Gar."

"Are you certain?" he asked.

"Just do it!" she snapped.

Gar held his breath, fearing the worst. It was. The lightning, this time much brighter, leaped once again from Jarvik's fingers. As soon as it hit Raven's shield she screamed in pain and collapsed. Jarvik immediately stopped the lightning. Tendrils of stray lightning wandered over Raven's still convulsing body. Gar was at her side in no time, drawing the residual lightning into his bare hands, wincing in pain as he did so.

The first thing Raven saw when she regained consciousness was a pair of worried emerald eyes staring down at her. "Oh Gar, I thought I was going to die." She moaned.

"I think that's enough training for today." Jarvik announced. "Let's meet after dinner on the Arrow, I have some armor for you Titans to wear, and some Jedi armor for you Gar."

He looked at Raven "Raven, go take a nap. It's the best way to shake it off. Drinking fluids helps as well. Gar, make sure she rests."

Gar nodded, picked Raven up bridal style and carried her off to their suite. As they exited the gym Cyborg picked up the following whisper with his bionic ear: 'You know Rae it wouldn't kill you to listen to me once in a while. I'm right more often than you think.' She then rested her head on Gar's shoulder and mumbled 'You were right my love, I'm sorry.' Cyborg immediately regretted teasing his friend earlier about being 'whipped'. _He did tame our little sorceress after all, who else could have done that? _Cyborg knew that everyone but Gar was intimidated by Raven's dark powers. _ Who am I kidding? He ain't whipped!_

Nightwing then turned to Batman. "How do we defend against that? Raven is the most powerful Titan and she couldn't fend off the lightning."

Batman replied "We can't, but there only a handful of Dark Jedi. Most of the opposition will be clone troopers. You do realize that you, Robin and I will need to arm ourselves with blasters?"

"Yes, I have been training. They are powerful weapons."

"Time to get some rest before dinner. Tomorrow we set the trap." Batman concluded. "So you will keep Raven and Gar together in the mission I suppose?"

"Like I have any choice. How about you join Starfire and me for dinner?"

"Sure. What about Tim?"

"Have him join us as well; I'll set him up with Blackfire." He grinned wickedly.

"So it's true, you have become evil." the Dark Knight chuckled.

-( scene break )-

The following morning the crew was boarding the Jedi Arrow. Raven and Nightwing were clad in Republic issue plastoid battle armor, and Raven wore her white cloak over her protection.

"I feel like an armadillo" she complained. The armor was incredibly lightweight and she was having a hard time believing it offered any real protection.

Gar was wearing Jedi battle armor, which was similar to regular armor but provided somewhat less protection in exchange for greater flexibility.

Cyborg was his usual self. The Green Lanterns refused any armor. The Tamaranians wore their own armor including special battle helmets. Batman and Robin wore their own Bat-Armor. They along with Nightwing were issued a Republic carbine blaster, with enough rounds to last all day.

Blackfire had two Republic carbines slung over shoulders. Nightwing approached and asked: "Ready?"

"Lock n load" she replied. She had always been good with American slang.

Nightwing lingered with her for a moment. Then he said "I forgive you."

"Thank you Richard. Thank you my friend…my brother." She embraced him and he hugged her back.

Suddenly Ahsoka's voice was heard over a loudspeaker. "This is the Captain. Secure the ship for takeoff."

Within a few minutes they were breaking orbit, preparing to jump to Eridani 4.

"Are there any reports on the whereabouts of the star destroyer?" Nightwing inquired.

"None" Jarvik replied "But I'll bet you an Italian dinner at Benini's that they will be there when we arrive."

Nightwing was pretty sure that was a bet he would lose.

"I'll treat everyone to a night at Benini's after this is over." He promised instead.

Ahsoka pulled the hyperdrive lever and the familiar star stretching effect made its appearance as they made the jump into hyper space.

-( scene break )-

Ok, we're getting close to the final conflict. Action is not my strong suit, so I will write the next chapters with extra care and thought.

Y para mis aficionados hispanoparlantes, si quieren pueden hacer sus 'reviews' en español. Gracias.


	12. Chapter 12

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

-( scene break )-

Chapter 12 – The day has come

The Titans sat quietly in the Arrow's bridge, watching hyperspace slip past them as the ship moved at speeds that were beyond any other ship in the galaxy, except for the Hand. They would arrive at Eridani 4 in mere minutes; instead of the usual hours it would take a native ship to traverse that distance. They all wore grim expressions, knowing what awaited them and secretly hoping it wouldn't be there.

Just then the Nav computer chimed and they dropped out of hyperspace. Palpatine's Hand was waiting for them.

"Battle stations!" Jarvik shouted. Jarvik took the forward systems, while Nuvuti, Sleedo and Gar each took control of port, starboard and aft defense systems.

"I've got fighters all over me!" Gar yelled. "They're targeting propulsion systems."

"Deploy the Green Lanterns! Ahsoka, get us closer to the destroyer, we're still too far for Raven to teleport us!"

The Green Lanterns exited from the ship's airlocks and quickly engaged the fighters, buying Gar some precious time. Meanwhile the Arrow was throwing everything it had at the Imperial ship, which so far was able to absorb the salvos.

As the battle ensued the other Titans, Batman and Robin could only watch. Raven walked over to Gar's station and sat behind him, careful to not distract him. Despite the Lantern's help the fighters were still getting shots at the propulsion system.

"Master, our reactor is overheating. Unless we can cool it I'll have to eject it before it goes critical" Ahsoka screeched over the din of alarms and explosions outside the hull.

"Why are they focusing on the propulsion system?" Cyborg yelled. "It's the toughest part of the ship. It would be easier to take us down if they targeted the mid section of the ship."

"They want to take us alive!" Ahsoka shouted in realization.

"Ahsoka, shut off the reactor. Let us drift! Cease fire!"Jarvik commanded.

Just then a tractor beam locked onto the Arrow while fire from the destroyer also ceased.

"Recall the Green Lanterns! This is perfect. I was hoping this might happen."

Hal Jordan was the first Green Lantern to enter the bridge. "So it's plan B, right?" he said.

"Correct. Once they have us in their docking bay they will try to board the ship. Hold them back as long as you can as that will buy us time. Raven will teleport the strike team to the destroyer. Once we signal you engage the auto destruct and wait for us outside. We will try to escape using their escape pods once their reactor goes critical, but there is a chance that some of us will get 'spaced' and will require immediate rescue. Our armor, under suits and helmets will provide us with about 60 seconds of protection from the vacuum." Jarvik instructed the galactic policeman.

Jordan nodded as the shipped shuddered. It was now secured in the docking bay.

"Prepare for teleporting." Nightwing instructed.

The strike team assembled in the middle of the bridge. Raven took over "Jedi in middle, except for Gar. Also Batman, Robin and Blackfire in the middle. Titans, surround them and hold hands, I'm going to need to borrow the black energy I gave you when we fought Trigon."

As they held hands they could feel the dark energy flow. Raven closed her eyes and uttered her mantra "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…"

They were engulfed by a hemisphere of darkness and once they could see again they found themselves in the middle of a deserted trooper barracks. They pulled off the plan without a hitch. They were onboard and the enemy was none the wiser. For now.

-( scene break )-

The Clone Troopers were unable to breach the Green Lanterns' defenses and could not board the Jedi Arrow. There was a Green Lantern stationed at every hatch on the Arrow, with two backups. The Green shields seemed to be impervious to anything that was thrown at them. Blasters, grenades even light artillery could not breach them.

Ventress was losing her patience. It had been 20 minutes since the first attempt to board the ship. She was tempted to just blow it up and be done with it, but she really wanted to capture the changeling Padawan. She turned to her chief assault officer with a frown that made him age a year in one minute.

"Options?" her voice was as cold as ice.

"We crack the ship open like an egg." He responded. "There's no way they can keep us out if we do that."

"Do it, but do not fail me. My patience is exhausted with these primitives."

Ventress then pressed a button on her communicator "Yunn, come to the docking bay and bring all the Dark Jedi with you. It's time to capture the changeling."

"Yes mistress" he replied. "We are on our way".

-( scene break )-

The strike team huddled in the empty room. They needed to find the best path to the reactor, the one with the fewest Clone Troopers.

Raven tried to use her powers to sense the troopers.

"I can't discern a safe path. There are just too many troopers on the ship."

"Neither can I." Jarvik added.

Cyborg shook his head. "Forget about using my sensors, they'll just give us away."

Gar looked up "I'll go." He handed his light saber to Raven and morphed into a fly. She hated it when he morphed into insects, as she felt he was very vulnerable in that form. But she understood that stealth was paramount for this mission.

"Be careful, if you get hurt I'll kill you." She admonished him.

Gar flew into Ravens face and buzzed loudly to protest her over protection, before vanishing around a corner. After what seemed like an eternity to Raven he returned.

"Not good." Gar reported "There is no unguarded path to the reactor. Ventress must be very paranoid."

"We need a new plan" Nightwing interrupted. "We need to create a distraction."

Jarvik pondered the situation. "Nightwing is right. Let's separate into two groups. Ahsoka, you team up with Raven and Gar. The rest of us will attack the reactor room and draw the troopers away, allowing Ahsoka's team to then move in and set the detonators."

It was decided that Starfire would team up with Nightwing and her sister, Cyborg with Batman and Robin while Jarvik would team up with his Padawans. The three Jedi would launch a false attack on the reactor and withdraw, luring the guards away into a trap. Meanwhile Ahsoka, Raven and Gar would stage the real assault on the reactor.

"The plan is sound." Batman said "But must be executed perfectly to work. There is no room for error."

"I can teleport us into the reactor control room on your signal Jarvik" Raven said.

They all nodded in agreement and prepared for the assault.

-( scene break )-

Three batteries of cutting lasers were in place in the launch bay. They would cut the Arrow into 4 slices exposing the habitat portions of the ship, making it impossible to repel boarding. It would take some time to complete the task, but Ventress knew that time was on her side.

_You will be mine, changeling, all mine. Maybe I'll keep you for myself, instead of presenting you to the Emperor_.

Out of the corner of his eye, the assault chief thought that he saw a lustful smile on her face. _None of my business_ the clone thought to himself.

Ventress's communicator shrieked to life "Mistress, there was an attack on the reactor room!"

"What!?" Ventress screeched back at the communicator.

"Three Jedi tried to commandeer the reactor control room, but we repelled them." He reported proudly. "I sent 3 of my 4 platoons to pursue them."

_Three Jedi?_ She thought to herself.

"The ship was a ruse." She screamed "Eject it and destroy it. Yunn, come with me. Vixx, take the rest of the Dark Jedi and help capture the Jedi."

-( scene break )-

"OK, that's our cue. Get ready to teleport and fight once we arrive" Raven warned. They would still have to take out a whole platoon of Clone Troopers, which meant they would have to kill or be killed. _I hope that I can handle this._

Raven stood behind Ahsoka and Gar, placing a hand on each one's shoulder. She whispered her mantra and they once again found themselves engulfed in a hemisphere of darkness.

The platoon stared surprised at the black hemisphere that appeared before them. They saw two Jedi emerge from it, light sabers ablaze and a third, hooded individual who flew above them.

Before they could even cock their blasters Ahsoka and Gar had already mowed down a dozen of them. They began firing but the two Jedi deflected their shots right back at them, taking more of them down. A few saw Raven and shot at her, but her dark shields held firm. Raven then gestured and the black energy attacked her assailants, snapping their necks. Raven grimaced, feeling sick about taking not just one, but several lives. She felt sorry for the clones. _They're just pawns in this battle._

The battle lasted all of three minutes. Raven ran to Gar "Are you OK?" she asked as she embraced him.

"How tender! They gray girl loves the green changeling!"

Ahsoka whipped around to the source of the voice.

"Ventress!" she snarled.

"So Ahsoka, what are you going to do now that Skywalker isn't here to protect your sorry orange ass?" Ventress laughed as she ignited her two light sabers. "Yunn, kill the gray girl, but save the changeling for me."

She turned to Beat Boy "You will be mine, boy".

"Fat chance, bitch!" Raven snarled back, her eyes glowing red and her hands glowing with dark energy as she levitated "You're going down!"

The XO watched from the bridge as the Jedi Arrow tumbled away from the Hand.

"Target all turbo lasers on that ship" he ordered. "If it's not destroyed Ventress will have our head on a platter!"

A barrage of turbo laser fire pelted the Arrow as the clone XO watched in satisfaction. What he saw next wasn't as pleasing. Two huge oval shaped ships dropped out of hyperspace and began firing on the hand. The Arrow came to life and joined in on the attack.

"What are those?" he asked his tactical officer.

"I'm not sure sir, but they look like old Republic dreadnoughts."

The XO stared in disbelief. "That's impossible" he whispered, then he gathered himself. "Even if they really are dreadnoughts, they're relics, at least a thousand years old. They're can't be a match for us. Return fire!"

-( scene break )-

The three Jedi had led the pursuing platoons of Clone Troopers into the ambush as planned. The ambush came from two sides. Nightwing and the Tamaranians hit the troopers from the right with a combination of blaster fire, star bolds and eye beams. They never knew what hit them. Batman and Robin fired their blasters and used an assortment of bat weapon to dispatch the stragglers, while Cyborg used his patented sonic canon to take down his share. The survivors turned to flee but were cut off by Jedi. The ambush took less than 2 minutes to complete.

The team then headed back to the reactor room when they heard massive explosions resonate through the ship.

"Was that the reactor?" Blackfire asked.

Then they heard several more explosions resonate on the hull. Nightwing whipped out his communicator "Hal, what's going on?"

"Two more alien ships appeared and are attacking the Hand, and are beating it pretty badly. We're trying to hail them, but without any success. You need to get out if there now." The human Green Lantern replied.

"Guys, we have to find the others" Cyborg yelled about the din.

Starfire tried her communicator "Raven, Garfield, Ahsoka, come in!" There was no reply.

Suddenly the group found itself under fire. This time there were hundreds of troopers, who cut them off from the only path to their comrades. And there were several Dark Jedi with them.

"Nightwing, we have to retreat. There are too many troopers." Jarvik's voice conveyed a sense of urgency.

-( scene break )-

Ventress attacked Ahsoka with pure fury. She had been waiting for this day for years. "I look forward to telling Skywalker that I finished you myself" she grinned wickedly. "The last time I saw him he said that he no longer has any feelings for you. I think he's lying." Ventress laughed as she chased Ahsoka around the chamber. Ahsoka desperately fended for herself, not sure how long she would last.

Yunn wasn't faring as well as his mistress. Raven was holding her own against the Dark Padawn. He tried using Force Lightning, but his attack was feeble and blocked by Gar who drew the lightning to himself to protect his mate, who glared at him when she saw the pain he was in.

Yunn made his move upon Raven's distraction. He hit her with a force blow directly to her head and she stumbled and fell. Gar leaped to Raven's defense, blocking Yunn's light saber strike which would have severed Raven's head. In his fury Gar overpowered Yunn, finishing him off with a lateral slash to the abdomen, slicing him in half.

Ventress noticed Yunn's demise and grabbed Ahsoka with a powerful Force choke hold until she had almost fainted then slammed her into the bulkhead behind her. Ahsoka slumped down onto the floor, unconscious.

Ventress turned to Raven and struck her with a powerful bolt of Lightning, and unlike Yunn's feeble attempt hers was very effective. The lightning gripped Raven and lifted her from the ground. The only sound Raven made was a quick gasp. Ventress released her and Raven's body slammed into the hard floor, unconscious and smoldering.

Ventress turned to Gar. "You are mine, changeling." She licked her lips, as if in anticipation of a good meal. "Come with me and I will spare them. I will complete your training."

Garfield stared at her in disgust, and spat at her.

"That's no way to treat your future mate." She purred.

She had gone too far, and something snapped inside Gar. He morphed into the Beast and slashed at her with a speed she had never seen before. His right claw ripped into her left arm, and she dropped one of the two sabers she wielded. She screamed in pain and withdrew, protecting herself with her still good right arm and hand, which held onto the other light saber. Garfield morphed back into his normal self.

Both Ahsoka and Raven had regained consciousness but were still too weak to rejoin the battle. Both had witnessed Gar's successful attack against Ventress. Raven struggled to get on her feet.

Ventress realized that she would not be able to capture Gar and make him hers. _If I can't have him, neither can the gray girl._

Gar saw his opportunity to finish Ventress. He attacked her with a fury that he didn't know he had. But Ventress, even wounded, was a magnificent dueler. They moved around the chamber, battling so swiftly that all Raven saw was a blur. Ahsoka was now rising to her feet and Raven was preparing to join with Gar battling Ventress.

Gar had his back to Raven and was beginning to overpower Ventress, who had been losing blood from her wounded arm. Ventress grinned and launched another round of lightning at Raven, Gar reacted quickly and blocked it with his light saber.

And then Raven's worst nightmare became reality as she saw Ventress's blade emerge through Gar's back, who then collapsed onto the floor.

Raven stared in horror before a scream escaped her lips "NOOOOOOO!" Raven's scream was full of dark energy and reverberated throughout the ship.

She fell to her knees. _ Gar! She killed my Gar! She killed him!_

-( scene break )-

Bet you didn't see that coming.


	13. Chapter 13

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

-( scene break )-

Chapter 13 – Unexpected Victory

"Fall back! Fall back!" Nightwing shouted at the top of his lungs. But it was no longer possible. They were trapped in a small docking bay. On one side they were surrounded by hundreds of troopers and on the other side was the vacuum of space. They were trapped.

Suddenly they heard what could at best be described as supernatural scream, and they all recognized it as being Raven's. The Titans looked puzzled and fearful.

"What has happened to Raven?" Starfire asked in a fearful voice.

Jarvik closed his eyes and focused on the Force. "Not Raven, its Garfield. Something terrible has happened to Garfield."

"No" Cyborg stammered "it can't be."

The team was in the grip of fear, not knowing what was happening to their friends, only knowing that something terrible had happened.

Jarvik's eyes snapped open. "We have company" he told the others. Six Dark Jedi entered the bay, deflecting the team's blasters and star bolts.

"We'll take them." Jarvik informed the non-Jedi. "Troopers will be coming next. Be prepared for them."

A whirlwind battle began in the small Bay. Jarvik took on three Dark Jedi while Nuvuti and Sleedo battled with the others. Jarvik quickly dispatched one of his opponents. Then as he predicted, a stampede of troopers stormed the bay, blasters blazing. The Titans and the Bat Clan fought back, but could not fight them off quickly enough.

Nightwing turned to his former mentor "Any ideas?" Batman shook his head. The outlook was grim.

Suddenly there was a huge explosion, and everyone turned their attention to the exterior bulkhead, which was peeling away like a banana skin. The explosive decompression was fierce and everyone in the bay was sucked out into the vacuum.

-( scene break )-

Raven stood up, facing Ventress. Her face was in its demonic form, with two pairs of red eyes. In a deep, almost masculine voice she growled "You will pay for this."

Ventress laughed "I do not fear you, Raven daughter of Trigon! You will be my next trophy."

Ahsoka had already approached Gar's body and was quietly examining it.

Raven heard a voice in her mind. "Let me take over." It begged. "I will make her regret ever being born". It was Rage. Raven had kept Rage under control ever since Gar and Cyborg helped her capture her in Nevermore. She had sworn to never let Rage run free again, but was sorely tempted to break that promise at the moment, even if it meant that she could never regain control again.

"Raven!" it was Ahsoka "Gar is still alive, but just barely!"

"I can heal him!" Raven shouted back, the fearful hope evident in her voice. As she reached Gar's side he turned to Ahsoka, still wearing her demon face. "Finish her!" she commanded. Ahsoka nodded, her face full of anger and lunged at Ventress.

Raven sent her soul self inside of Gar's chest to examine the damage. To her immense relief Ventress missed his heart and spine. His left lung was a mess however, and two ribs were cut. There was little internal bleeding, as the wound was cauterized by the light saber itself. Gar had somehow managed to partially dodge Ventress's jab, which is why he was still alive. He was in terrible shape though.

Raven retreated back into her body and lay her hands on Gar's chest. He convulsed from the pain of her healing powers. "Stay with me Gar!" she pleaded.

Gar slowly regained consciousness and extended his hand towards his fallen lightsaber, willing it to come to him. It rolled along the floor into his hand.

"I need to help Ahsoka, she's in trouble" he croaked, his voice but a whisper.

Raven turned and saw Ahsoka sprawled on her backside, frantically fending off Ventress's vicious strikes. Raven did not know that when Ventress threw Ahsoka against the bulkhead that she had cracked three ribs. Ahsoka was indeed in trouble.

With a swift gesture of her saber Ventress disarmed Ahsoka, whose lightsaber flew away.

"I have waited long for this day Tano!" Ventress yelled as she raised her blade above her head to deliver the final strike.

Ahsoka heard the familiar snap-hiss. Ventress screamed in pain as Ahsoka saw a purple blade poke through Ventress's chest. This time the aim was precise, as the blade had pierced her heart, completely destroying it. As Ventress fell Ahsoka was able to see her savior.

It was Raven, who clutched Gar's lightsaber with both hands. Since Raven was outside the Force Ventress never sensed her approach.

"My name is Raven Logan, you bitch! Not Raven daughter of Trigon".

Raven then returned to Gar's side to continue healing him. Ahsoka joined her and injected some Bacta into Gar's chest.

Suddenly claxons and alarms began to sound in the reactor control panel. Then there was a voice heard over the PA system.

"This is the XO speaking. The reactor has reached critical levels and will soon explode. All hands abandon ship. I repeat, all hands abandon ship."

"We need to get to an escape pod now." Ahsoka told Raven "There is one nearby."

The two girls picked Gar up by the arms and dragged him out of the room.

-( scene break )-

Cyborg realized what had happened. He and the rest of the team had been sucked out into the vacuum of space. With his artificial eye he could see the Jedi Arrow and two round shaped alien ships pummeling the Palpatine's Hand, which looked terrible. He also saw Starfire clinging to Nightwing while Blackfire was with the Batman and Robin, rushing the 3 to the Jedi Arrow. He then saw the 3 Jedi floating and using his rockets he approached them and collected them, knowing that time was precious and that their suits were not meant to endure extended exposure to a vacuum.

Cyborg was beginning to feel the effects of the vacuum as he approached the Arrow. As he entered the airlock with the Jedi he saw that the princesses were heading back out, no doubt to search for Raven, Gar and Ahsoka. It was then that he noticed that escape pods were fleeing the Hand. That could only mean that the ship was ready to explode_. I hope they're in one of those pods._ Then with no warning, the Palpatine's Hand exploded in a huge fireball.

-( scene break )-

Raven saw the empty escape pod first and they rushed into it as quickly as possible. Ahsoka entered the launch sequence command and the pod burst free from the destroyer, like a cork popping from a champagne bottle.

Raven was cradling Gar in her arms, tears streaming down her face. She stroked his hair and repeatedly kissed the crown of his head. Ahsoka put her hand on Raven's shoulder.

"We made it." Ahsoka sighed, still wincing from her rib injuries. Then she frowned as she felt a warning in the Force. "Raven! Brace yourself…"

Ahsoka was unable to finish her warning as the Hand exploded. The primary systems in the pod went offline, most likely fried by the tremendous subspace pulse created by the hyper matter that was destroyed in the explosion. Only the emergency light and life support systems continued to work. The pod went into zero G mode and began to tumble.

Raven became nauseous and began to dry heave (she had skipped eating solids before the mission in anticipation of this).

"Are you OK Raven?" Ahsoka noticed that Raven was as green as her husband.

"I don't do well in zero G." She sputtered. "I'll be OK".

After she said this the pod stopped tumbling. Turning to the view ports they saw two friendly Tamaranian faces smiling at them. Starfire mouthed "Is Gar OK?" Ahsoka gave her thumbs up as the girls hauled the escape pod back to Arrow.

-( scene break )-

Two weeks had passed since the battle.

Raven and Gar were on the tower roof, sitting on a couch that Cyborg had hauled up there, staring at the bay.

"How are you feeling today?" the sorceress asked her husband.

"Better" he replied. "The tightness in my chest is gone. Except for the exterior scars I would never know that she made a Gar-Kabob out of me. I still don't remember being impaled. Let's see those teeth you're growing."

She gave him a big grin. There was no longer any sign of her run in with Blackfire.

"Looking good" He then fell silent, almost Zen like.

She squeezed his hand and laid her head on his shoulder. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.

He paused before answering "Raven, who am I?" he asked.

"You are Garfield Mark Logan, my husband, my lover, my best friend. Nothing else matters."

"Are you sure nothing else matters? I have been a Titan for so many years and until recently I was Beast Boy."

"The local media has accepted your new alter ego."

"Changeling? I guess. But that's not who I am. Is it?"

"No, its not. So, are you a still a Titan?"

"I think so; we are a surrogate family after all. I suppose I'll always be a Titan."

"And what about the Jedi?"

"I don't know. I struck out when fighting Ventress. I don't see how I could pass the trials. And I'm supposed to build my own lightsaber. Fat chance of that happening."

"You defeated her apprentice, and you had her on the ropes. She just got lucky. Cy could help you build your lightsaber. Believe it or not Ahsoka was very impressed with your performance against Ventress."

"I suppose." he paused again "Master Yoda has asked me to meet with him. In private." He added. "I wouldn't be surprised if he asked to give my lightsaber back to Ahsoka."

"When are you going to forgive yourself? Ahsoka tells me that Ventress even posed a challenge to her old master. Even now that she's a Knight she couldn't defeat her."

"Funny how it was you that took her down with my lightsaber."

"I was lucky. She was so focus on finishing Ahsoka off that she never saw me coming"

"I guess it's good to be lucky."

"Damn straight." Raven replied "I fell for you, didn't I?"

Gar laughed.

"I'm going to visit Terra, she's being discharged from the hospital." He changed the subject.

"Terra?"

"Didn't you hear? Slade escaped and ditched her."

"He did? I thought the med droids rebuilt her face?"

"It's not her face that needs fixing."

"I see" she replied "just don't give her any false hope, understand?"

"Yeah, I know. I think she has accepted that we are a 'permanent' couple."

"Marriage will do that to you. Oh, and I forgot to tell you. Starfire just told me she's pregnant."

Gar laughed. "I wonder what her food cravings will be. Normal food?"

-( scene break )-

Terra was preparing to leave the hospital. The Republic med droids work was complete and they had been collected by Yoda's crew. Terra's only problem was that she had nowhere to go. All of her bank accounts had been seized due to her marriage with Slade. She had no home and no money. Oh well, she had lived under the stars before, she could do it again. _It could be worse. At least I wasn't charged with any crime._

She heard footsteps entering her room and turned to see who it was.

"Hey BB!" she greeted him. "Am I glad to see you!"

Gar winced at being called "BB". Only Cyborg was allowed to call him that. He decided to let it slide.

"Hey Terra. I thought I'd come in and check in on you. Did those med droids treat you well?

"I can't complain. They rebuilt my face. You really can't tell that it was repaired, can you?"

"I can't. It looks as good as new. So what are you doing next?"

"Camping, I suppose. You wouldn't happen to have a spare sleeping bag I could borrow?"

"It doesn't have to be this way, Terra"

She gazed at the floor. "I know. I'm an idiot. I could have had you, and instead I married Slade."

"That's not what I meant Terra. You were once a Titan. The Wayne Foundation has a fund to pay for college for retired Titans. You should go to college Terra. You're pretty smart, you know."

"Which is why I dumped you a second time and ran off with Slade."

"No one is perfect Terra."

"You are." She replied. "And now you are Raven's and will never be mine again"

"Terra, you shouldn't dwell on that. Besides, I was never really yours. We wouldn't have worked together. I was wrong for you. And you knew that, which is why you rejected me twice. But why Slade? I mean, you can do a lot better than Slade."

"Who else would have me?"

"You have to be kidding? You're smart and beautiful. Go to college Terra. Start over with a clean slate. I'll help you get your marriage to Slade annulled. You will have never been married to him."

Terra began to cry. "Why are you doing this? Why do you care about me? You have Raven."

"Remember what you told me in the cave?"

She nodded "How could I forget? I told you that you were the best friend I ever had."

"And I still am."

"Raven is one lucky girl."

"Yeah, I know" he smirked.

-( scene break )-

Yoda, Jarvik and Ahsoka were sitting in the conference room on the Jedi Arrow, which was parked in its usual spot next to the Tower. They were discussing a certain Garfield Mark Logan.

"Out of the question it is." Yoda affirmed. "A mate he has. A Jedi he cannot be."

"But why Master Yoda? He is the best Padawan I have ever known."

"Ahsoka" Yoda replied "Forget not how Anakin was corrupted."

"Gar is not Anakin" she said defiantly.

"The code exists for a reason." Jarvik added.

"You of all people should know that the code is a crock." Ahsoka complained. "Gar will never turn to the dark side".

"Married to a demoness he is."

"She's a hero."

"So was Senator Amidala. Raven is his weakness."

"She's not a weakness. She makes him stronger."

"Enough Ahsoka. No more shall we discuss this."

"Fine. I won't return with you to the Republic. I will stay here and complete Gar's training."

"Perhaps we should ask Garfield what he wants to do. For all we know he isn't interested in Knighthood. Raven certainly doesn't like the idea of Gar becoming a Jedi." Jarvik said.

"Asked him to meet with me, I have" 

-( scene break )-

OK that's all for today.

I wasn't planning on letting the grass stain die. Scared you, didn't I?


	14. Chapter 14

Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, Star Wars, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

There, that should keep the lawyers happy.

-( scene break )-

Chapter 14 – Going Home

The common room was the hub of activity. Every female Titan from the four corners of the Earth had arrived at Titans tower to celebrate Starfire and Nightwing's news, and a few guys came along as well. Even Terra was present.

Raven, while much more social than in years past, had her fill of the commotion and had sat down on the circular couch with Gar. She was reading one of her many books while Gar had fallen asleep next to her while morphed into a cat. She stroked him absentmindedly while he purred. _Just like the good old days, before the Jedi arrived._

Raven glanced at the clock and remembered Gar's appointment with Yoda.

"Wake up sleepy head. You don't want to be late to see Yoda."

The green cat opened his eyes and yawned one of those big yawns that only a cat can do. Gar morphed into a raven and flew out the window down to the Arrow, where he was expected.

"Yo Raven, what are they going to talk about?" Cyborg asked.

"I'm not sure, but I suppose it has to do with his future as a Jedi." She frowned.

"You're not happy about this, are you?"

"No, I'm not. I almost lost him two weeks ago. Nothing would make me happier than to see the Jedi leave and never return."

She paused.

"I don't care if it's a private meeting. If it concerns Gar's future, then I should be there."

She flew out the window as fast as she could and caught up with Gar before he reached the Arrow. He squawked in protest, but in the end they entered the Arrow together.

-( scene break )-

Garfield and Raven both entered the conference room.

"Garfield, your presence alone requested was." Yoda admonished.

"We come as a pair." Gar replied. Ahsoka gave him a 'what are you doing?' look while Jarvik simply looked cross.

Yoda sighed. "Very well."

Jarvik spoke up.

"Padawan Logan, Ahsoka has requested that we review your status as a Padawan. She believes that you are ready to be promoted to the rank of Knight in the Jedi order".

Both Gar and Raven had expressions of shock on their face.

"She did?" Garfield stammered.

"Yes." Jarvik continued "Do you feel that you are ready for this?"

"No." Garfield replied. "I failed to defeat Ventress." He hung his head.

"Good" Yoda replied. "Humble a Jedi must be."

Gar and Raven were confused. _Where is this going?_ She wondered.

"One task remains." He continued. "You must build a lightsaber. Only a Jedi can do this, as the Force is required to properly align the emitter crystal." He then handed Gar a data pad. "In this pad the schematics you need are contained. Your friend Cyborg help you with mechanical matters he may. Two you have weeks to complete this task."

"And then I'll be a Jedi Knight?" Gar asked, incredulously.

"Decide then I will. Troubled I remain, because a mate you have. You may go now."

"Why is that a problem?" Raven asked.

"A distraction a mate is. Detached a Jedi must be. A mate only clouds a Jedi's judgment."

Gar handed the data pad back to Yoda "Master Yoda, with all due respect, I am no longer interested."

"Gar, what are you doing?!" Ahsoka shrieked.

"I'm sorry Ahsoka, but Raven is the best thing that ever happened to me. She is the source of all that is good in my life. I won't listen to this." Gar took Raven's hand and led her out of the room.

Raven could tell that Gar was upset. "Are you sure about this Gar?"

"Screw them! Who do they think they are? You took Ventress down, or have they forgotten that already?"

"Gar, wait!" Ahsoka was running after them.

"Forget it Ahsoka. I'm no longer interested."

He pulled Master Windu's lightsaber from his belt and handed it to her. "I believe this is yours."

"Gar, don't throw this opportunity away." She pleaded.

"Ahsoka, it seems to me that I'm being asked to choose. I'll always belong to Raven and the Titans will always be my family. The Jedi can go to hell!"

Gar morphed into a seagull and flew away across the bay.

"I'd better go after him." Raven sighed and took off.

Ahsoka shook her head and looked at the lightsaber in her hand before heading to the tower.

-( scene break )-

"He did what?" Cyborg shouted. "I thought it meant the world to him."

"Master Yoda can be a jerk." Ahsoka replied.

"So it's over then?" Blackfire asked.

"I'm afraid so. And the worst thing is that I had convinced Master Yoda to give Gar the rank of Knight."

"So why did he bring Raven up again?" Nightwing asked. "Was he trying to piss Gar off?"

"Padme" Ahsoka replied.

"Padme?" Cyborg asked "What's that?"

"My master secretly married Senator Padme Amidala. Palpatine used Anakin's fear of losing Padme to draw him to the Dark Side. Anakin was pivotal in the destruction of the Jedi order and Palpatine becoming the Emperor."

"OK, that explains a lot."Nightwing said.

"I think that Yoda blames himself for not noticing Anakin's secret, especially since Palpatine knew everything. But he hasn't learned from his mistake. He pushed Anakin into Palpatine's arms with his heavy handedness and now he's pushed Gar away."

"Maybe BB isn't meant to be a Jedi." Terra shared. "He's always been kind of flinchy."

"Do not ever let Raven hear you say that." Starfire admonished her.

"BB?" Ahsoka asked.

"His old hero name was Beast Boy." Nightwing answered. "He kept his true identity a secret for a long time, so even we called him Beast Boy. Now we call him by his real name and his current hero name is Changeling."

"Anything else I don't know about him?" Ahsoka asked.

They proceeded to tell her about how he lost his parents, his time with the Doom Patrol and how he ended up with the Teen Titans.

"Now I understand why he sees you as his family. This is problematic. I never should have trained him at all."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Raven asked crossly. No one had seen her enter the room.

"I should have screened him better before taking him on as my apprentice. And I was completely mistaken about Jarvik and the Dark Side."

"Well, if anyone cares, Gar is in our suite and he's a wreck. He's trying to hide it, but trust me, he has never been this upset."

The Titans all stood up and followed Raven back to the Logan's suite on the top floor. Ahsoka stood up as well.

"Perhaps it would be best if you stayed here." Starfire told Ahsoka.

Ahsoka sat back down on the circular couch. Once the others were gone she began to weep.

-( scene break )-

Gar warmly accepted all the support his fellow titans offered him. It was good to know that they really were his family and would always be there for him. Still, he was glad when they eventually left, leaving the Logan's to their privacy.

"You're still agitated Gar. I can sense it. Is there anything I can do for you?" Raven asked him.

He cracked a smile. "Come skip stones with me."

She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. "Sure, I'd love to."

They flew down to 'Gar's rock' where he and Raven had met after the first Beast incident and had their first 'moment'.

Gar picked up a nice stone and gave it a good throw.

"Seven skips, let's see you beat that!" he cheered.

Raven picked up a stone and using her dark energy shot it out at what appeared to be near supersonic speed.

"22 skips" she crowed.

"That's cheating!" he whined.

"Nothing's stopping you from using your powers." She taunted him.

"I'm never using those powers again!" he snarled.

"So offensive are they to you?" they both heard from behind them.

Gar and Raven whipped around.

"Hello Master Yoda." Raven said.

"Greetings Raven. An apology to you both I owe."

"Huh?" Gar choked out, unable to hide his surprise.

"Mistaken I was, in judging Raven a liability to you. A remarkable woman she is."

"Thank you. We accept your apology." Raven replied.

"Take this and your final trial complete." He said as he once again handed Gar the data pad with the lightsaber design schematics. "Also Ahsoka asked me this to return to you. It once to a dear friend of mine belonged." He handed Gar Mace Windu's lightsaber.

"Take it" she whispered in his ear.

Yoda chortled. "Yes, yes, to your wife listen. Wise she is."

"Thank you sir." It was all Gar could say.

"Much love and loyalty have you for your wife and friends. Had Skywalker your loyalty, failed the Sith would have." He turned and began to walk away. He then stopped and turned to face them.

"I congratulate you Raven. You victory over Ventress, well done it was."

"Thank you." She replied softly. "It was hard to do."

"Always difficult it is to take a life, even an evil life." He turned and left for the Jedi Arrow.

"I thought you didn't want me to become a Jedi."

"I hadn't understood how much it meant to you." She faced him and kissed him tenderly on the lips, tears streaming down her cheeks. "And thanks for be willing to give it all up for me."

They hugged for the longest time.

_What is it with this rock? I should rent it out on Valentine's or something._ Garfield joked in his mind.

-( scene break )-

"Ok, let's try again BB. You sure it's aligned this time? The last 5 exploded and I'm out of parts. Today is the last day green bean."

Gar collected himself and used the Force to focus on the lightsaber's internals. "Yes, this time the crystal is aligned correctly. I'm positive."

Raven had her hood up as she watched from a safe distance. She knew that she had been unable to conceal her disappointment each time Gar failed to align the crystal correctly. _Not this time_. She walked up to Gar and lowered her hood. _Success or failure, I will share it with him._

Gar placed the lightsaber on a test jig and they ran to the bunker to join Cyborg. Gar picked up a control pad. "Ok, here we go!" and he pressed a button on the pad. Nothing happened.

"At least it didn't blow up" Cyborg stated the obvious.

"I forgot the energy cell." He ran out to the test jig and connected the power source to the lightsaber grip.

He ran back and picked up the pad once again, but before he tried the test a second time he grabbed Raven and gave her a kiss that made Cyborg blush to witness it.

"For luck" he grinned, and pressed the button.

The lightsaber made the familiar snap-hiss ignition sound and came to life. Its blade was a deep emerald.

Raven grabbed Gar and returned his earlier kiss. Cyborg let out his trademark "BOO-YAH!" and high fived Gar and Raven once they were done kissing, which took a while.

-( scene break )-

Gar and Raven flew to the Jedi Arrow, with Raven cradling the new lightsaber as if were a newborn baby.

The three Jedi and the two Padawans saw them approaching, knowing well why they were coming. As they landed and Gar morphed back into his normal form Ahsoka approached them. Raven handed the lightsaber to Gar. Ahsoka had already outstretched her hand to him.

He handed it to her and she examined it for over a minute, her focus was extremely intense. She then handed it to Jarvik who repeated her performance before handing it to Yoda who also examined it.

Yoda then held the grip so that the blade would point upward if ignited. He hit the power switch and it came to life. He handed it to Jarvik who performed a few simple motions with it before handing it to Ahsoka who did the same before shutting it off and returning it to Garfield.

Yoda addressed Gar "Completed you have the trials. I grant you the rank of Jedi Knight."

Gar was shocked. _That's it? I'm done? I guess they aren't big on ceremony in the order._

"Thank you Master Yoda" he stammered.

"The vow of celibacy, exempt you are from, by my authority. Your knighthood legal is."

"Yes sir, thank you" Gar said again.

Yoda turned to Raven "Congratulations my dear. Fortunate he is to have a mate as patient as you."

"Yes, and thank you" she replied.

"Garfield, inform the Titans that repaired our ships are. Tomorrow at noon we leave for our home. Now go, share with your friends your news."

-( scene break )-

"And that was it?" Nightwing asked "No ceremony, just 'OK you're now a Knight'?"

"I guess when Ahsoka said that we don't do it for the glory, she wasn't kidding." Gar replied.

"How do you feel?" Blackfire asked.

"Weird, I guess. I just wasn't expecting it to happen right there and then."

"Speaking of the unexpected" Nightwing interrupted, "Starfire has a question for her sister".

All eyes were on Starfire. "Sister" she began "I will need to take a leave of absence during my pregnancy. I was wondering if you would like to cover for me during that time."

Blackfire hugged her sister. "Thank you sister, and you too friends. Thank you for trusting me. Starfire has been a better fighter than me for some time now, and now that I can't use my star bolts I'll be even less effective than her. I will do my best of course."

"Maybe I could rig you up with a thermal blaster like the one Nightwing used when Slade blackmailed him into being his apprentice. It's not as good as star bolts, but it still kicks butt." Cyborg enthused.

Just then the common room doors opened as Sleedo and Nuvuti entered. Each was carrying a package.

"Gar, we would like to give you these to commemorate your promotion to Jedi Knight" Nuvuti said as she handed Gar her package. He opened it and it contained a standard Jedi tunic and boots.

"Wow, thanks Nuvuti. I'll wear it tomorrow when you leave for home."

Sleedo then gave Gar his package.

"It's a Jedi robe!" he exclaimed as Raven helped him put it on "It fits like a glove!"

"Now they're both have hoods!" Starfire exclaimed "Glorious!"

Sleedo and Nuvuti both roared with laughter.

"We now must return to our ship to prepare for tomorrow's departure. We will see you then." Sleedo said.

"See you tomorrow." Gar replied.

-( scene break )-

Gar was awoken at 2AM by something he had never heard before: Raven was snoring like a buzz saw. He turned to face her to see if he could discern why he was being treated to this symphony on this particular night. Nothing looked out of normal. She looked quite peaceful and content. Gar watched her with amusement for a while before deciding he would like a soda and headed down to the kitchen. As he approached the kitchen he sensed that someone was already there. As he entered he saw that it was Terra.

"Hey, wat'cha doin' up at this hour?"

"I couldn't sleep. It's been happening to me a lot lately. What about you?" she asked.

"Raven's snoring woke me up."

"You're kidding? Little miss perfect snores?" Terra guffawed.

"Little miss perfect?"

"OK! I'm jealous of her!" she admitted "Happy now?"

"Not really" he retrieved a root beer from the fridge. "Should I be?"

"You should be. I rejected you twice and now you're happily married to the girl I hated and I'm a miserable loser. How can it get any better than that?"

Gar sighed. "Terra, why are you doing this to yourself?"

"Because I loved you and I blew it!" she sobbed.

"Terra, there's nothing to be gained from dwelling in the past."

"Did you love me?"

"I was a stupid 14 year old boy. I had the king of crushes on you, but it wasn't love Terra. I was an awkward, self conscious green boy with low self esteem. You were the first cute girl who ever gave me the time of day. Of course I was infatuated with you. But how could it have been true love? "

"Is it true love you have for Raven?"

"Yes, actually."

"How? I remember that she treated you like dirt. I saw the videos from Tokyo. How many times did she slap you in public then? She even slapped you at the award ceremony, in front of the whole world."

"Raven was uncomfortable with her feelings back then, and was also very self conscious. She had a crush on me, but was mortified that someone might find out, so she pretended to hate me."

"How convenient."

"You know who she couldn't fool? Starfire. She knew all along, but never told anyone, not even Raven."

"So what happened? Did she just wake up one morning and decide to stop being a bitch with you?"

Gar sighed again. He had never known that Terra felt this way, and he didn't know what to do.

"No it didn't happen overnight. It was gradual. We started doing things together, like meditate or swim in the pool. It just started to snowball after that. She was still very self conscious and asked me to keep our relationship a secret. Of course Starfire could read us like a book, but she respected our privacy. We only went public once we decided to get married. We dated in secret since not long after you told me to forget about you. It was a long time and we both matured along the way. And you know what? We are still both growing and maturing."

"I see." She said with a hint of bitterness.

"Terra, there's someone out there waiting for you. But you'll never find him if you waste your time pining for me." He finished the last of his root beer.

"Go to bed Terra. Once our visitors leave I'll help you find a college. Have you given any thought on what you'd like to major in?"

She grinned "Geology, duh!"

They both shared a laugh. He kissed her on the cheek. "Good night Terra. Don't miss the send off tomorrow. I promise you that you'll see something that'll make you laugh."

"What?"

"Ah, it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, right?"

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow."

-( scene break )-

Terra almost overslept that morning, but after hurrying she made it down to the send off.

Cyborg had built a platform for the Jedi and the Titans to address the assembled dignitaries. She recognized Yoda, Jarvik, Ahsoka and the two Padawans. She saw Nightwing, Starfire, Blackfire, Cyborg and Raven.

_Where's BB?_

Gar had ditched his old Doom Patrol uniform some years ago for a new uniform that Raven helped him design. But Terra didn't see it anywhere. As she got closer to the platform she saw him. He was standing next to Raven, and was dressed like a Jedi. _She let out a laugh. He was right. He looks so funny dressed like that._

-( scene break )-

The farewell ceremony was taking forever. An endless procession of windbags came to bid the Jedi farewell.

Finally Master Jarvik had his turn to speak. He thanked Earth's people for their hospitality. "And as a gesture of our gratitude we will be leaving the Jedi Arrow in the care of Jedi Knight Garfield Logan and the rest of the Teen Titans to protect Earth from any alien menaces in the future."

After the applause subsided the Jedi and the Titans bade each other farewell. Ahsoka hugged and kissed both Raven and Gar goodbye. "I will return someday, after we overthrow Palpatine, I promise".

The plan was for Yoda to return to his exile in Dagobah, waiting for the day he would train the New Hope. Ahsoka and Jarvik would each take command of one of the dreadnoughts, launching distracting red herring attacks to keep Palpatine from finding Master Kenobi and the New Hope, whose location was a tightly guarded secret.

Jarvik congratulated Gar on his promotion and also promised to return someday. Sleedo and Nuvuti also bade everyone farewell including promises to return.

Yoda was more somber. "To you return I cannot. Time for me is running out and Palpatine deposed I do not expect to live to see. But bright your future is. Much happiness in your future I see, including many children." He laughed his mad laugh "Many children I see."

The departing Jedi then boarded their shuttle and left for the dreadnoughts.

"Many children?" Cyborg laughed "Just how many are we talking about here?" he teased.

Gar and Raven looked at each other and shrugged. "At least he didn't say anything about me losing my hair. "

Raven raised one of her eye brows "When will you stop worrying about that?"

"Never. Let's go home, I want to change out of this Jedi Monkey Suit."

THE END

Wow, it's a lot harder to finish a story than to start one.

I hope this chapter didn't suck too much.

The one regret that I have about this story is that BB didn't use his morphing powers very much


End file.
